It was a normal autumn evening at the Smith house. All of my family was sitting around the TV watching "Home Along" for the thirth time. My wife was in her normal position on the couch wearing her sweatshirt. She always wears sweat shirts to big for her too. She says its cause if makes her feel skinny. I have given trying to understand this.

My daughter was half watching the TV and painting her nails. I was in my favorite recliner thinking of whether or not to turn off the stupid movie. I had the movie memorized five showings ago but still sat there hoping I might see something cool. Who would have thought that a weird sound from a simple machine would change all of our lives.

Life in Smallstown, Maine, was said to be everyone's dream. Living just a few miles away from one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. I love living out in the country. I never had to worry about my daughter walking herself to the bus stop. I even got into the habit of forgetting to lock my car and house.

The next morning didn't have to arrive because it was already here. My wife made us some coffee with my daughter acting out the part of her mother's shadow because she was shaking from the night before. On normal mornings she would have been getting ready for school but because of what happened, we decided it would be best to keep her home.

After the movie ended I tucked my daughter into her bed and checked the house to make sure everything was off and locked. My wife had just completed taking her contacts out, or in her terminology, she took her eyes out, when both of us thought we heard some strange sound coming from the TV room. It wasn't the cracking sound of earlier but rather a low almost inaudible hum. Because the sound lasted only a few seconds we decided to ignore it and finally get some sleep. I clearly remember how I prayed that the sound wasn't our refrigerator's last dying gasp.

The telephone was the toughest item to pick out because ever since the telephone company broke up into different companies, the number of different types of telephones increased many fold. After convincing my daughter that we couldn't possibly use a phone shaped like Garfield the Cat, we bought a conventional brown wall telephone that jingled a tune instead of just ringing. Even though, like Pavlov's dog, I know I will miss the sound of a conventional telephone, a family man must remember the art of compromise.

The best way to describe myself is that I am an unemployed school teacher working my way through a Master's Program at The University of New Hampshire. The reason for my present unemployment is that I am more concerned with the education of my students then I am with the politics of present day school administrations. At least that is what I say. They say I am a trouble maker. Now believe me when I say that I take no offense by this description. I 've just got to learn to get better at it.

A specific machine caught my fancy because it was on sale and was the simplest to use. After I decided to purchase it the clerk told me that their stock was depleted and the only machine of this type was the one I was looking at. They had plenty of more expensive ones in the back storage room. But I was set on buying this specific one. After convincing my wife that a box was not a necessary part of how the machine operated, the clerk bagged it and immediately sought out another customer.

My wife then told me to disconnect the thing. I told her that I would check the wires again and I was sure the problem could be corrected. She didn't know that I wanted to keep the machine in service because one of my larger creditors was sure to call. By some twist of luck I was right in that the machine stayed quiet through the rest of the evening. My hapless creditor also called.

Seeing that their was no one in the house I knew that the noise must be coming from the machine. I had few choices. I could throw the machine out of the house and admit to my wife that she was right or I could try and fix the thing again still demonstrating that she was right. I decided to do the most obvious. I unplugged the now hated machine and went back to my bedroom with the promise that first thing the next morning I would either permanently fix or return it.

My wife would also meet in one of her friends basement to build up a sweat doing aerobics. This form of exercise is great for your heart and muscle tone. But it is destructive to your shins, legs, and neck. She always said that she would be the cripple with the best body in the chiropractic ward at York Hospital.

Later that evening we were all awakened by a loud almost screaming sound coming from the other room. My daughter immediately ran into our bedroom crying in fear of something she didn't understand. My wife and I stared at each other in disbelief when

Some common words found in the essay are:
Garfield Cat, , University Hampshire, John's Restaurant, Smallstown Maine, Middle School, York Beach, Police Department, answering machine, sound coming, York Hospital, woods house, woods house looking, wife's sister called, coming tv, wife's sister, morning wife's, sound stopped, holding onto, machine decided, sound coming tv, coming tv wasn't, tv wasn't,
Approximate Word count = 2569
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)