The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep

On the day that he was born Max slept for most of the time. And in the first weeks of his life he slept like other babies. But when he began to look around him, he didn't sleep so much. He slept for a few hours at night and a little in the daytime. Then he stopped sleeping during the day. He was awake for twenty hours. His eyes were always open!

His mother, Samantha Price, was very surprised. She said that the world was a very interesting place and perhaps Max wanted to see everything. She thought this was because he was intelligent.

The doctors and pediatricians were also very surprised; but they said that they didn't know why Max slept so little. Then a child psychologist studied Max's case. He said that it wasn't a very strange case.

His studies showed that a lot of modern babies were sleeping less. He wasn't sure why, but he had some ideas about it.

'Two hundred years ago people went to bed earlier than today,' he told Samantha. 'Generally, life was slower in the past and people slept longer. They worked a lot and they didn't have much money, so they often stayed at home after work and went to bed when it got dark. You see, there was no television and there weren't any electric lights. Electric light is different from candlelight; it is brighter and it keeps you awake. Babies are influenced in mysterious ways by the world. And if the world is fast, noisy, and bright, and if people often go to bed very late, babies will feel this and they won't sleep so much.'

'Are you sure, Doctor?' Samantha said. 'I think that Max doesn't sleep because he finds the world so interesting. He's very intelligent.'

'Yes, that's possible, Mrs Price. But it's true that our society is becoming more nocturnal.'

The psychologist's words surprised Samantha. She couldn't believe him. But when she told her husband Derek, he said, 'Yes, it seems crazy but our world is crazy! The psychologist may be right. But we'll see. Perhaps it will pass and Max will sleep like other babies.'

When Max was five, the doctors said he was a hyperactive child. Every night Samantha tried to put him to bed at eight-thirty but he wasn't sleepy. Samantha became angry; Derek was angry too. They shouted at Max and finally he went to bed at about half past nine. But he cried and cried, and he never fell asleep before eleven o'clock. Then he woke up between four and five in the morning and he wanted to play. Samantha and Derek were always tired and nervous.

When Max was eight, he slept about two hours at night. Now Samantha and Derek went to bed while he continued to play quietly with his toys or his computer. He did lots of things to pass the time and he didn't often feel bored. He liked the electronic light of the TV or computer. He was always in the light!

If he was always in was in the dark for a while, he became nervous and depressed. It seemed that he needed light.

'I think he's a mutant,' Derek said one day, and he laughed. But he was half serious.

'What do you mean?' asked Samantha.

'Nature is trying to produce a new kind of human and Max is an experiment,' Derek replied, laughing. 'He's a child of the future.'

When Max was a teenager, he was awake for most of the day. At night he went to discos or all-night parties. He watched videos or late-night films on TV, and he listened to music. He went to school every day, but he didn't get up in the morning like other children. At school his friends were surprised because he wasn't sleepy. And he worked hard. He liked learning new things and he read a lot of books. He wanted to know all about life and the world. When his friends asked him about this, he said, 'I want to understand everything. The world is a big, interesting place and life is short. We sleep too much. Sleep is a waste of time.'

Samantha and Derek were feeling better now because they usually slept well. Derek accepted Max's condition more than Samantha. He said it was true that Max was different but in other ways he was normal. He liked sport, clothes, music and girls.

'How can you say he's normal?' said Samantha. 'A normal person can't always live in the light of day or electricity. Normal people can't live without sleep. It's impossible! Max must sleep or one day he will die!'

One evening Samantha put some strong sleeping tablets in Max's tea to see what would happen. When he began to look sleepy, she called Derek.

'Look!' she said excitedly. 'He's going to fall asleep!'

Derek was surprised and happy. 'That's wonderful! Perhaps he's normal after all!'

'Ssh! You'll wake him up!'

After about half an hour Max opened his eyes.

'What's happening?' he said, looking around.

'You fell asleep,' said Derek with a big smile.

'Asleep? Me?' Max looked angry. 'How long?'

'About thirty minutes.'

'Oh no! I don't want to sleep. There's too much to do and see in the world. But how did I fall asleep?'

Samantha said quietly, 'I gave you some sleeping tablets.'

'You - what?' Derek shouted.

'Give them to me, Mum,' said Max.

Samantha looked very unhappy. 'Oh, you must sleep,

Max! Why don't you sleep?'

'I don't need it. When you sleep, you don't know anything. You can die in your sleep and you won't know about it. When you sleep, you can't see or hear anything. I don't like that.'

'But everybody in the world sleeps, Max!'

'I know - but not me. I want to see, hear, and know. Now give the tablets to me, Mum.'

Slowly Samantha put the packet in his hand.

But she couldn't stop herself. She was always thinking about Max's condition. One day she wrote to a famous neurologist who was an expert on sleep. Dr Somaz answered her letter, asking if he could do some tests on Max. Max said yes. After the tests, Dr Somaz said that Max's brain waves were different.

'His brain produces very strong alpha waves,' the doctor explained. 'These are the normal waves when we are awake. But his brain doesn't produce any slow waves, which are normal when we are asleep. It's strange. I've never seen this before.'

'So he really doesn't need sleep?' asked Derek.

'Sometimes perhaps - just a little.'

'And he is a normal, healthy person?' Samantha asked.

'Yes, he is. But there is a problem. Sleep restores the body. If the brain is always awake, the body is not renewed. And so... it will get old faster than normal...'

Samantha was looking at the doctor with big, frightened eyes. 'Do you mean that Max will die young?'

'I don't know, Mrs Price, but it's possible. I would like to do some more tests.'

Dr Somaz's tests showed that Max's body was getting old faster than normal. He was eighteen but he had the body of a man of thirty-five. Samantha and Derek were shocked.

'How long will he live?' Derek asked.

'That's a very difficult question and I don't know the answer.'

'Oh, isn't there anything we can do, Doctor?' Samantha cried. 'How can we help him?'