Yet Another House Guest (?)

It was a long and eventful holiday weekend. Jordan’s combination 4^th of July and twelfth birthday party celebrations started early Monday afternoon and went late into the evening, concluding with the neighbors’ fireworks assault of the senses, with blazing colors, deafening booms and whistles and the unmistakable scent of spent gunpowder wafting across the back lawns. Other than some minor lawn damage, a great time was had by all.

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Bobby spent the night so we could extend the holiday weekend by one more day, spending Tuesday afternoon neck deep in the pool, recapping all the funny conversations from the day before while Jordan and Jamie demonstrated their latest dolphin tricks for their grandparents.

The very late evening on Monday and afternoon in the sun on Tuesday made for a very quiet evening at Casa Dralle, with all of us walking around sun-kissed and spent.  Dinner was party leftovers (at times like these birthday cake counts as a food group), followed by early bedtime for all family members. As Jordan and Jamie insisted they weren’t tired, Jim said they could stay up for a little while in Jordan’s room.

Jim and I slid into comas before our heads hit the pillow, yet it felt like moments later we were waking to Jordan whispering from our bedroom doorway. In stark silhouette, a small baseball bat raised above her head, Jordan repeatedly whispered to Jim that she and Jamie heard someone walking in the house again, and this time they were going to check it out.

Very few things make the man of a house fly out of bed from a deep sleep faster than the words “someone is in our house.” Quickly moving Jordan and Jamie back into her room, Jim quickly and stealthily descended the staircase to confirm all doors and windows were locked.

Jim returned moments later to report the house was safe, and the kids probably heard the dog or the cats moving about. That was when Jordan and Jamie chose to share the creepier part of the story: The footsteps were not coming from downstairs, as Jim assumed, but from Jamie’s bedroom, the loft and the guest bedroom across the second floor from where we were sleeping.

The strange thing was, the floor was creaking as if someone were walking from room to room as we all stopped to listen, yet the furry critters we blamed for the footsteps in the dark were all fast asleep in our bedroom.

Of course once checked the rooms were empty and Jim had no use for the small bat he had taken from Jordan. He also had no explanation for the creaking noises that frightened Jordan and Jamie minutes earlier, just words of reassurance that we were safe and it was time to go back to bed.

I awoke early this morning to find Jordan sleeping between Jim and me, and Jamie crashed on my writing chair covered in a beach towel. Apparently the creaking continued after Jim and I fell back to sleep, and Jordan and Jamie were unable to coax the furry brigade to join them in Jordan’s room for extra protection. Rather than wake us up again, they simply took sanctuary in our room.

While we’re not quite sure if our midnight visitor will be touring the second floor again this evening, we have a feeling Jordan and Jamie will find an excuse to hang out in her room tonight and lock Buck in with them for extra company. For safety’s sake, Jim and I will keep Jordan’s bat with us.