Things That Go Ding in the Night

For most of my adult life, I’ve not enjoyed a good sleep pattern. I have trouble falling asleep and if I am awakened in the night I often can’t get back to sleep. For a number of years, I’d had anxiety attacks so nighttime television became a good friend. Thankfully I have done a bit better in the last decade -at least the anxiety attacks are very infrequent. But sleep is always a sketchy area for me.

That’s why a ghost and a clock really messed me up this week.

First, let me tell you about our ghost. Our house is quite old – over two hundred years!  My in-laws lived here before we did, and her parents lived here before that.  Apparently, the grandparents believed there was a ghost that prowled the house occasionally.  My mother-in-law swears she saw this ghost come down the staircase on one occasion. But the elders assured us this ghost was quite harmless.

While I’m not necessarily a big believer in ghosts, I did think that a lady woke me up one night by stroking my cheek.  I got up with a start and went into our son’s room (he was about 5 years old at the time).  While he had been fine the evening before, I found him with a very high temperature and we took him to the doctor.

Since then, I figured the ghost – if in fact she exists – was a kind and helpful one.  Not sure about that anymore.

The clock in question was a beautiful wedding gift. When we received it, it chimed every quarter-hour.  While quite lovely, it was also chiming every quarter-hour.  So we put it on the silent setting because…well, chiming every fifteen minutes. It’s been silent for about 35 years now.

Early this week we had a busy day working in the gardens. Exhausted, we fell into bed at about 10:30. My dearest fell, as usual, immediately into sleep.

I lay awake, trying not to toss or turn and thinking relaxing thoughts. We’d been in bed about half an hour when my husband sat straight up, saying “Did you hear that?”

This is unusual behavior for him and freaked me out just a little.  He lay back down, and went to sleep again.  I lay, wide awake, alert, with my heart beating a bit faster.  Just a few minutes later, he sat straight up again and said, “There.  Don’t you hear that?”

Again, I had heard nothing. He got out of bed and took hold of his baseball bat.  Well, okay, now I’m more than a little freaked out.  I got up, as well, and grabbed my own bat. Together, we crept down the stairs, turning on lights and checking every room.

We cleared the house, both upstairs and down, and found nothing amiss. Finally, we put down our bats and crawled back into bed.  Just as I was turning out the light, we heard it. That clock. That blasted clock. It chimed a little tune then rang nine gongs. It was midnight. Yeesh.

Having figured out what the noise was, my courageous hubby was asleep in seconds. I, on the other hand, was a mess.  I got back up, watched Chopped, two episodes of Unsellable Houses, and a Hallmark movie.  When I finally climbed the stairs to go to bed, the clock was chiming twelve gongs.  It was 3.17 a.m.

But it didn’t chime again and hasn’t made a peep since that night. What gives, sweet ghost? Just a little prank? Having some harmless fun?   Here I am telling folks you’re kind and helpful when really, you’re just an attention-seeking brat.