Poem: "Sharp Notes"

This poem came out of the September 3, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from kelkyag.  It also fills the "First person narration" square in my 8-13-13 card for the Ladiesbingo fest.  This poem has been sponsored as an anonymous gift for kelkyag.  It belongs to the Monster House series.

As much as I liked
Miss Sally as a teacher,
and the chance to have music lessons
during summer vacation,
having a new housemate
wasn't all sunshine and singalongs.
There were some sharp notes too.

It was just awkward
having somebody sleeping
on the hide-a-bed couch in the living room.

My brother and I had a later bedtime
as long as school was out,
so as long as we finished our chores
we got to watch old movies late at night --
but that kept Miss Sally awake.

Then she'd sleep late in the morning
and our parents would wake her up
when they went to make breakfast,
which made nobody happy.

She didn't mind the monsters,
though, and that turned out
to provide the solution.

The monster-under-the-bed
offered a pair of enchanted earmuffs,
necessary for getting any real sleep
until one's above-bed baby
grew old enough to sleep through the night.
The lurking shadow, too,
silently made a contribution.

It was still kind of awkward
to watch television after dark
with Miss Sally snoring on the couch,
earmuffs in place, and the lurking shadow
draped over her face as a sleep mask,
but we made it work.

* * *

Notes:

There are tips on sharing a house, usually aimed at college students, but other people do it too.  More people are living with friends or family as the economy founders.