PLOP! Alfred woke up, and immediately knew why was awake—the paperboy. It was 5:30 a.m. A later, he finally got back to sleep. Later morning, he made a phone call. The customer rep asked if he could help. Alfred couldn’t his ears; the rep had an Indian accent. was calling to complain about the Los Angeles , and he was talking to someone in India!

told the rep to tell the paperboy to the paper quietly—at 5:30 a.m. Alfred, like most human beings, was trying to sleep. The rep , saying that he would notify the route supervisor. said that this was the fourth time he called in the last three weeks. He said wanted to talk to the supervisor directly. The said that he would leave a message for supervisor to call Alfred. Alfred rolled his eyes; had heard this before. He was beginning to if a “route supervisor” even existed. By 6:00 .m., the route supervisor hadn’t called.

That night, Alfred his alarm for 5:20 a.m. The next morning, walked downstairs. A few minutes later, the paperboy up. He ran over to Alfred’s apartment building. he saw Alfred standing there, he handed him paper. Alfred told him to stop throwing the onto the steps.

“You are waking me up. the paper on the steps quietly. Do not it—place it, okay?” The paperboy nodded, and ran to his car. At 5:30 the next morning, woke up. The paper had just been thrown the steps. He heard the car drive off. was enough. Even though he loved the convenience home delivery, Alfred’s sleep was far more valuable him. Starting tomorrow, he would read the Times .