I’m babysitting tonight – hanging out on a couch in house I don’t know well. The baby has made a few sounds, but she can’t be responsible for all I’m hearing.
Why did I hear shuffling on the floors? Or what sounded like tinkling bells a while ago? I’m glad when the heat comes on because the rush of air through the vents masks other sounds – or at least provides a reason for them.
Sounds in the night are, for me, a good reason to have pets. One, any noise that I hear I can blame it on the cats – that is if they are not sleeping right beside me. Two, I trust my pets to notice a noise that really is worth paying attention to. I put great faith in their superior hearing. Not that my cats could defend me if there actually was an intruder, but perhaps they would alert me to the fact. At least that’s what I tell myself when I’m home alone and the floors squeak.
This house, like ours, has creaky floors. I used to find creaky floors endearing, sort of like traditional apple pie. But now that we have a house in which the floors are moving from creaking into groaning and cussing, it seems a bit less charming.
And here is some, perhaps needless advice, if you a sitting alone in a strange house, hearing odd noises, don’t google ‘strange noises in the night’. There are plenty of stories there to fire up anyone’s imagination.
V would be rather disappointed, I’m sure, to hear me say that I do believe in the paranormal. What exactly I believe I’m not going to say since it is not entirely clear in my own head and I fear I would invite ridicule. And I’m not saying that I think ghosts are walking around in this house – I am quite sure that the noises I hear are various normal things such as water in pipes, bugs, air through vents, wind and other noises outside. But still, sitting alone in a strange house can be a little... disconcerting.
No comments:
Post a Comment