Flashlight Club - membership renewal

To be an official member of this club you must use all your powers for good, and be wiley enough to defeat the evil-doers who believe in sleep and lights out. Your superpowers must be evolved enough to hear footsteps from a floor away. You must be clever enough to act quickly, with stealth, and with confidence. And you must manage various bits of lighting technology, all while balancing the most important piece - the book you just can't put down.

Tools of the Club:

clip-on booklight
touch on/touch off headlamp
flashlight
extra batteries
small phillips head screwdriver
extemely exhausted parents
most excellent book(s)

Yes, we've been throught his before. He has already stayed up most of the night reading another great one - Knucklehead. And I know I am supposed to be encouraging reading, and I do. In fact, we all do. There are things to read everywhere, and we have been known to fill our suitcases with more books than clothes...yet, the alarm for school calls early - and that has to be the priority. (drat says the mom who would also stay up all night reading, except for that nasty habit no boss appriciates -- napping during a meeting).

He's eight and he's almost there. A new book arrived - The Lightening Thief - about a boy who is half human and half god. He checked the mail everyday, waiting for it's arrival. And even after listening to two chapters last night, he attempted to renew his membership in the Flashlight Club.

Caught with the big light on at 9:30, he went all out 10 minutes later with the headlamp. Now, if the headlamp hadn't left an indentation on his forehead, he might have gotten away with it. That piece of equipment was removed from the clubhouse. Next came the request for water. And somewhere from the bathroom came a clatter, an uh oh, and a don't come in. Upon checking, because, really, bathrooms are not areas for safe play, it was discovered that said club member was throwing a towel down on the floor. When he knew the game was over, he lifted the towel to reveal batteries. Which led to the march back to the clubhouse, sans water.

The evildoer swept the room for other lighting instruments and found one thing - the flashlight that cackles like a witch (for halloween). The evildoer left it because its noise makes stealth impossible. "Of course you can keep this flashlight in case the power goes out. I wouldn't want you to not have any light. cackle. cackle. cackle.)"

The evildoer was summarily dismissed with a hmph and the covers being pulled all the way up and over the head of the club member.

Membership is not yet quite renewed, but it's coming - I feel it. Friday's only a few more days away...