Things That Go Boom in the Night

What do you do when you are awakened by a load crash, like a plank following on wood and can't find anything inside or out, crashed? It is definitely hard to go back to sleep, thus the need to find something to do.

Bandido was restless for awhile but has finally given in to sleep. Lucky him. Reminded me of the time I was alone in our big house on the hill in Glendive. No idea what age I was or why I was alone. But I was sleeping in the basement with the dog. Was it Star or Poika? If I could remember that, I would have an idea what age I was. Why was I sleeping downstairs? That is where the boys slept after an individual bedroom was given to each of three of us girls.

At any rate the memory that is so clear is how frightened I was by some noises I had heard. I was wide awake listening and imagining, all the while the dog was making low growly sounds which frightened me even more. The basement had a separate outside door on one side and a door that led from a very old 'under the house garage.' It was so narrow it must have been used for a horse and buggy. But you can imagine how either door was a tool to feed my fright. Never did find out what the noise was all about either but I know I didn't sleep till someone finally came home.

That old house was very old and had lots of creaks and sounds of it's own even when no one was there. Berta Mae and I discovered that when we were in grade school and because we were always playacting out different stories, we would hide behind one of the chairs when no one was home and scare ourselves silly imagining what or who was making the sounds. I remember one time we ran in and climbed on the kitchen table before finally running outside into the sunshine and away from "it".

This fear of "sounds in the night" stayed with me. When I started dating Bill in San Diego I was living with three other girls in a house which was two story on one side and one story on the front side. I was the first one home from a date one night so Bill checked the whole house before leaving me alone. Unfortunately the doors were not locked evidently. As I was drifting off to sleep I heard a clumping sound but convinced myself I needed to stop imagining things, it was nothing at all, I was just overreacting. Later, when Marta and Colleen came home with their dates, they woke me to tell me there was a drunk passed out at the kitchen table. He had climbed the outside stairs from the back alley...

OK, I am now convincing myself it must have been a large branch that fell on the roof, so guess I will try to go to sleep.