The sound of the alarm at five a.m. was a startlingly similar experience to having a dentist drill in her sinuses, Karyn decided. As she was fumbling to reset the alarm to a decent hour, she heard her mother bustle into the room.
"Karyn honey, it's time to get up."
"Uh?" Karyn managed to grunt.
"We need to get you all cleaned and brushed out for school."
As she looked down at herself and marveled at the weirdness of the scenario, she also realized that her mother was kidding. All that soft hair had gotten tangled in the night.
"Why can't it just stay straight by itself?" she grumped.
And then it occurred to her. It could, if she wanted it to. When her mom had left the room she reached over to her bedside table where the rock sat. She grinned mischievously as her hand touched it and.
"I wish my hair would just stay clean, straight, and dry on it's own," she said, and added, "and that I could sleep in."
The alarm reset itself; her bedroom door closed; and she blissfully nuzzled back into the pillow.
