Before meditation, Momj had set a timer for fifteen minutes and put it on the deck beside him. After making sure the volume was on the highest setting, he sank immediately into mind-blank meditation. After what seemed to be like a short time, a horribly loud noise blared in his ear. Momj jerked out of his meditative state with a pained yelp. Quickly shutting off alarm, he got up and groaned. Shaking his head, he got up and stumbled inside. Aria intercepted him just inside. “Momj,” she said, almost too sweetly, “why did you follow that absurd idea of putting that alarm on its highest volume level? That level is to wake up whole cities, Momj. If I didn’t muffle it, all the apprentices would’ve been rudely jolted out of their meditation, just like you where. It would’ve been especially painful for Tynan and Darice, wouldn’t it, Momj? It would’ve probably made their ears bleed, don’t you think? Now, why did you do something as incredibly stupid as set an alarm to jolt you out of meditation?”
By now, Momj was entirely shamed. When Aria was at her sweetest, she really meant, “You’re in trouble, buster.” Momj muttered something about Sand Buggies.
“Speak up, would you Momj?” Aria said in a poisonously sweet voice. “I can’t here your reason for that stupid blunder when you mumble like that.”
Momj took a deep breath. “Me, Brooks, and Silas are going into town. We planned to meet at the Sand Buggy garage right after we meditated. I planned to get there early and get the tarps off them and bring them out into the open air. So I set an alarm.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Please don’t punish me too much.”
“Alright,” Aria said in her normal, slightly gruff voice, “you can go to town. But tomorrow, you have to clean the whole second floor hall floor with a toothbrush.” Momj’s head came up with a start. “All right, you can use a mop. But still, start right after breakfast, no meditation. You go until you’re done, no breaks. You hear?”
“I hear,” Momj confirmed in a considerably relieved tone. He thought she might forbid him from going into town for a very long while, or not let him do equations before bed.
“Now,” Aria said with a smile, “go into town for your friends and break a few pinball records. And one more thing, the third buggy from the left is not fit to drive. I’m going to try to get it in to a mechanic, but I might have to get a new one. Off with you now, off with you!”
The ringing in his ears fading, Momj hurried off to the garage. He opened the rightmost door and pulled the tarps off three buggies. He walked them outside, and sat down to wait for Brooks and Silas.
Brooks came out first. “I see you’ve got them out,” he said. “I’ve never really ridden anything like this… Can you give me a lesson?”
“Sure!” Momj agreed. And before long, Brooks was riding like a pro.