The crazy clock

Every night about 10:00, our dog, Holden, comes into the den, plops onto a pillow, and begins the nightly spaz routine, an always different sequence in which he flips onto his back, wrestles with the pillow, kicks, stretches, moans, and generally turns into a complete loon.

Every night about 2:00 a.m., our cat, Lyra, leaps onto the floor of the den and begins her nightly spaz routine, another constantly varying display of strange behavior, in this case centered on menacing dust molecules, invisible air demons, and so on.

I've come to believe that in each of their cases some built-in crazy clock has sounded the alarm and made insane behavior suddenly normal and desirable.

Once you accept the notion of the crazy clock, you have to ask the obvious question: do people have it? If so, is it okay for them to heed its siren call?

Crazy clocks may well be the source of a lot of the world's strangeness. I certainly wish some folks would learn to find the off switch for theirs.

No doubt the crazy clock gene will appear soon. No doubt.