Flashlight in hand

The Daily Haiku for Feb 9. Flashlight in hand.

Protected by sheets,
Right hand, Mr. King's book, IT,
Left hand, my flashlight.

My mother has always been passionate about reading. And she instilled that love of books in me at a young age. Our house always had a library full of books, and my mom always gave me free rein to choose the one I wanted to read, regardless of its subject or my age.

She was specially into horror stories, and so I started reading Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz when I was only 8 or 9.

One of the earliest and most vivid memories I keep is reading IT. I found the book fascinating and scary in equal measure. So I used to read under the bed sheets with a flashlight in my left hand and the book in the right hand. Like many kids, I felt secure and protected by the sheets (nothing could happen to me while I was below them, flashlight in hand).

I usually waited until the characters in the book were in a not-so-scary situation before closing the book. Otherwise, I would be too scared to sleep. So as the story progressed, I found myself reading more and more until I would fall sleep from exhaustion at 2 or 3 am. That memory always makes me smile.