Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Part II...On Sleeping Alone

A flip of the covers, a blurry batting of the eyes...'Come in, just until Johnny.'

I snuggle up into my mother, 1/2 way under the covers. Chantyboy is in the middle of the bed...hands mid-air talking emphatically to each other and his throat, croaking like a little frog. Sleep will fall upon him soon.

Before long, I raise my fist up into the air in unison with Ed McMahon...'Heeeeere's Johnny!' hoping Momma will be so impressed with my enthusiasum & maturity that she'll forget her own words.

'Paigey, go get in bed now.'

I don't want to, but after a moment or so of hem-hawing, I go to the boys' room. I look around the room & see the big old dresser with 3 little drawers & 3 big ones, the open passage to the girls room & light flickering in through the jack & jill bath from momma's tv. I hear the hum of her tv & I hear the rumble of dad's snore from the front room. All else is quiet.

Hmmm...I crawl up & plop down. Flip. Kick. Sit up. Twist. Flop. Finally, I go sideways. The footboard filters the flickering light from the jack & jill bath. My crown faces the open passage way to the girls. I stare into an uninterrupted blank wall. Right foot out of the covers, shimmying left to right like windsheild wipers set on beserk, I drift away.

I hear the howls & bolt upright. To my left & over the footboard I look down the corridor of the jack & jill bath, but from the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of him. He's hairy. His grin drips and he's in the bottom drawer.

Starting denial at a very young age, I think this can't be real & just plop my head back down....close my eyes to escape back into a more peaceful sleep. Drifting, I hear the squeak of worn wood on wood and my eyes fling straight up to the old yellowed ceiling. Frozen, I begin to hear his howl begin. Low, throaty & deep. Breathe. I bolt upright and swivel to my left, just in time to see the upper big drawer slam shut. He's hiding from me.

'Hey, what do you want?' No reply.

'What are you?' Nothing.

'You better go back away...'

As I begin to lay back down, I hear the slight tink of the small metal handle tapping on the wood of one of the smaller top drawers & I spring out of that bed.
Feet hit the floor just as his grinning self gets tucked back in and that small center drawer gets sucked back in.
I freeze.
He begins to peek out of another drawer. I lurch, grab & pull on the drawer. Nothing.
Listening carefully, eyes peeled back, terrified... I slowly close the drawer.

Slam! Bam! Wham! Flinging out & slinging back in. Drawers slamming. A long howl. Pointy teeth with tendrils of spit. An evil howling.

I run.

I run straight to the front room where Daddy was. He was up. Sipping coffee & reading the paper on the pleather sofa in his boxers. It was still dark out. Before I get across the room to him, he's disgarded his paper, sat his coffee down & is meeting me. I tell him about my dream. As he laughs, I tell him it was real. I chatter about, just trying to convince him.

Finally he says, 'Listen.'

I did. I heard birds whisting, all different kinds of early morning birds, aquatic birds & even peacocks. Singing all their seperate little songs together for a symphony of sorts. Then I heard it.
The faint sound of that low, throaty & deep howl beginning to build up in the distance.
Whispering, I ask 'I hear him, d'you hear him? He's moved on down the street, maybe to go find his parents.' Laughter.
I swat at him "Jjzssshhhh......hear him now?'
More laughter.........

'You, my child, are a dream-weaver.'
'Huh?'
'That's just an owl that I hear.'

20 comments:

singleton said...

"You, my child, are a dreamweaver"....
Yeah, baby, and we're fixin' to roll out that magic carpet you've been workin' on.....

skinnylittleblonde said...

Funny how you can dream something & it seems so real, but it's not, then other times you have a seemingly insignificant dream, then wake to find it is far from insignificant. Lol,'Who told you that? How did you know?' No-one told me. I saw it. I heard everything. I just thought it was a silly dream. ;)

SpongyBones said...

Man -- I love reading your stories. They always bring back memories of my own. I dig your carpet rides in your dream weaver self ... I say "let's keep riding on them dreams forever".

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Ooooh, you had me good and scared, girl! Dreamweaver, indeed - your tales sparkle full of magical fairy-dust.. I simply step back in wonder!

Scott from Oregon said...

For a second there, I thought you were talking about ME!

OK, so I knew you weren't.

But I bet the thing was related!

I never had nightmares as a kid. I think I missed out- no... It SOUNDS like I missed out!

Bardouble29 said...

oh, sometimes those dreams seem SO real...used to scare the daylights outta me.

Momentary Madness said...

You revived my childhood "dreams".
Scared out of my wits I was, quite literally all of the time. A lot of it I think was, as I reflect, the uncertainty of what was to come; life itself scared me. The things my parents told me which I needed to know- the truth. I could never get a foot-hold in the ups and downs - the normality of everyday life. So the possibilities went bump and creak in the night.
Thanks for the story. Y;-) Paddy

skinnylittleblonde said...

Ty Spongy...this one was quite the little rambling. Richard Pryor once said 'if we didn't have dream-chasers we'd all be teachers.' Lol, I'm a dream chaser, dream weaver with a teaching degree!

Shrink~ Oops...didn't mean to scare you! :) Sometimes reality seems like it can't possibly be real & sometimes dreams seem truly legit.

Scott~ Lol...if it looks like a duck, walk like a duck & sounds like a duck...hahahah, it mighta been you just coming to see me!

bardouble~Sometimes still do! Nightsweats...could be the dreams, pre-menopause or just livin' in the south! ;)

Paddy~ Lol, as a kid I had no fears. It took getting bit once or twice to develop those. Hahaha, most of my fears were & are very deep-rooted and quite more legitimate than this. This dream was the first dream I can remember , so I thought it should follow my post on my first memories. :)

To Anyone Else~ I have not been bouncing around the past week or so like I would like to. I miss all of you & so want to catch up. Life happens. It's up to us to live, love & learn while it's happening...so that's what I have been trying to do. peace out.

Anonymous said...

Dad was a rock when you needed it the most.

Gotta love the south and the country. :)

SHE said...

great read! right with ya.. checkin' all the drawers..
running to daddy

Anne said...

Awww, Skinny, you're so cute. Mighty brave of you to check the drawers. You didn't even take any mess from werewolves. lol.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Slick~ Dad's are superheros when we need 'em to be. Congrats, btw!

she~ thanks, it's really a long-winded rambling that in my minds' eye exemplifies some choice lessons learned & relearned.

Anne~ Lol, I take more crap in life as an adult than I ever did as a kid.

vicci said...

That same 'monster' visited me also...I use to cover my eyes with my hand at night to sleep...that way it couldn't get me! Ha!

Enemy of the Republic said...

This is awesome. I'm sorry I haven't been by. I always love coming here; you have a joyful spirit.

singleton said...

No monsters in our house, baby! Sweeping up! ILYSVVMSLB...CWTSY!

skinnylittleblonde said...

Vicci~ Hahaha...funny how simple surviving can be as a kid. if only it was that easy today!

Enemy~ TY and no problems or worries. I have not been floating too far from here at all in the past week or two. I need more time & space to get to go to all the blogs I enjoy.

Singleton~ Sweeping indeed. Although it seems like all this sweeping just throws dust in my eyes & gets my feet all dirty.

tai~ TY Tai. I must say I love your blog... always! :) Lol, making more memories as I type, memories that really should only be on tv or the widescreen and never in the real world ;)

peace/love to all & again APOLOGIES for not fluttering out & about too far from home lately.

Beerspitnight said...

Through experience I have learned that if I happen to be in a relationship that is "on the rocks" and I have a dream of a plane crash, then the relationship will cease to exist in the near future. Its happened three times. Once I was on the plane as it crashed, the other two times I watched as a plane crashed in front of me.
It should be noted that the first plane crash dream took place while I was in the midsts of a breakup with a girl that I really (or so I thought) wanted to be with. The other two plane crash dreams occurred when I was ending the relationships.
-Bet you can't read into that at all!

Anonymous said...

Hi Paige

I hope things work our for you. I'm thinking about you. You will do the right thing. Please stop by and visit sometime.

David

skinnylittleblonde said...

BeerSpit~ Pleasure to see you back!
That's wild, especially since '3 is the magic number.' I don't know that I have ever dreamed of a plane crash (outside of 911 dreams) I think alot of us settle the day not only with sleep, but also with our dreams.

David~ TY, all is good...just a silly dream. I'll be there before you know it! Or, maybe I'll be like you & lurk a while before I come on in...hahaha, just kidding.

Me said...

Your innocence was both beautiful and touching. Something to relate with for all, surely.