Day -249

Night Noises

Whenever I'm on an overnight with Scouts I make sure to anticipate their fears or worries.  A big one on the list of 'things that make Scouties go Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!' is Night Noises.  Before we go to bed, or during campfire we try to come up with as many sounds as we can that we might hear in the middle of the night.  "What noises might you hear tonight?"  The kids usually do a pretty good job of coming up with night time forest sounds (traffic, loud music from the neighbors [we camp inside the city sometimes], owls, coyotes, etc etc etc), and I make sure to add the ones they might not anticipate.  For instance, peacocks at 2 am can be terrifying for the uninitiated.  It gives the kids a chance to think through the noises they might hear, and a chance for the Responsible  Adults (tm) to explain that it's No Big Deal (ie: don't wake me up!).  "There now you've heard all the night noises so you won't be scared!"

Why are we talking about Night Noises?

So last night I'm laying snug in my bed asleep at a time when normal people are sleeping--oh, say 1am.  Slowly I realize that I'm not actually sleeping anymore because there's this really strange noise coming from my bedroom window.  Ping.  Ping.  Ping.  Ping.  Somewhere in my foggy brain I know exactly what this noise is.  Someone is throwing rocks at my window.  But my brain doesn't latch on to that because WHO DOES THAT?  Second option, and obviously the logical one is that I'm experiencing PARANORMAL activity.  (Did you see Insidious?)  I'm sure there are ghosts outside of my window.  I'm scared, but I crawl out of bed to look anyway.  There's no one there.  That was a little disappointing.  I drug myself all the way out of bed and to the window and there's no ghosts or John Cusacks with boom boxes and Peter Gabriel or anything.  Boring. 

Since I'm up anyway I decide to hit the head before going back to sleep.  When I walk out of my room towards the bathroom I hear the softest of knocking coming from the front door.  Robbers don't knock and my dogs aren't barking.  I figure my dogs can't hear spiritual apparitions.  Now I'm sure it's a ghost.  I tiptoe across the living room towards the glowing outline of the front door.  I peek through the peep hole.  Nothing. Can't be anything but a ghost.  I consider fixing the chain lock before opening the door but I figure that the ghost can slip through any gap.  I open the door. 

It's my roommate.  She's not tall enough to show up through the peep hole, or apparently savy enough to take her keys with her when she leaves the house.

Night noises folks.  Scarytown.