I’ll admit, I like to be scared. I don’t like gore, but I love suspenseful movies. I think it’s hilarious when someone jumps out and scares the ever-living daylights out of me. I love it when someone tells me a scary story and it sends chills down my spine. When I was a kid, my parents did it all the time. My mom said that even when I was a toddler, if one of them scared me, I would say “do it again!” I guess it’s my kind of ‘extreme sport’. I get an adrenaline rush out of it. I realize not everyone is like that. This day, however, was different….
It was a beautiful Saturday morning in the fall. I’m a morning person and I like fall best, so the crisp air and lovely breeze coming through the open window, woke me up bright and early. First things first, I let the dog out. She started wagging her tail and walking towards the door as soon as I sat up. I stepped outside with her. I wanted to soak in some of my favorite weather. She lingered and so did I. Finally we walked back in the house. I walked into the kitchen and started some coffee. Then, I walked to my basket of magazines, picked out a couple with fall inspiration, and went back to snuggle under the covers. My husband hadn’t moved. He is a night owl, so he goes to sleep much later than me, and then tries to sleep in a little longer. I got back into bed as gingerly as possible. He still didn’t move, so I was proud of myself. I’m happily flipping through my magazine, getting inspired for the fall season. “Wait, what was that?” I thought. “I could swear that sounded like someone was walking on our creaky wooden floors.” I looked down and the dog had her ears on high alert, but she wasn’t moving or growling. I sat there perfectly still and didn’t hear anything. She laid her head back down and I went back to reading. There it was again. This time the dog stood up. For a moment, I was frozen. Then I could see the shadow of someone walking toward the bedroom! I whispered to my husband. “Honey, someone’s in the house.” Again, this time a little louder, “Honey, honey, someone’s in the house!” By this time, the dog has her head down, the hair on her neck standing straight up, and her teeth bared. I thought to myself, “ok. the dog will give him a run for his money for at least a few seconds.” While at the same time, looking around, desperately, for something to hit this guy over the head with. Keep in mind, this was all in a matter of seconds. Finally, I thought, I’m going to have to stop whispering, and shove him out of the bed. I said, in a much louder voice, “HONEY, SOMEONE IS IN OUR HOUSE!”. Just as I was saying ‘HOUSE’, I reached over to shake him awake. It was pillows. He came strolling in with a big grin on his face. The dog started doing her ‘I’m so happy to see you’ dance. I started laughing and punching him at the same time. So, this day wasn’t really different. I thought “good one” to myself. I told him it was going to be really hard to top himself after that. He did though. That’s another story. Oh, and now there’s a baseball bat sitting by my side of the bed.
The Crazy Hat Box 