A Sound in the Night
Scott Mclean
I was laying in bed looking out the window and listening since sleep was not happening.
Tonight’s episode is on noises. One gets used to noises and which belong or don’t belong. The night time here is usually quieter with some exceptions.
One patient across the hall has a snore fit for a mummy movie. It will be ‘urrahhg’ most of the night. Another one has a snore right out of a cartoon. I think they synchronize because it’s ‘urrahgg wee wee wee wee’ all night.
The one room had an additional noise I’m pretty sure I didn’t want to be in there with.
They undoubtedly have something to say about my snoring. By the way, mummy snore person plays Dr. Phil type shows at high volume all day.
My Dad was the champion snorer. My favorite example was a band and drill team trip to Penticton, BC. The males were in one gym and the females another. My parents chaperoned. My Dad started snoring and the whole gym emptied. All of the high school kids were sleeping in the halls. One of my friends asked how we slept with that noise and someone else asked if it shook plaster loose.
When Lilli and I were dating we would sometimes go visit my folks and Lilli heard a couple of new noises. Her first ‘what was that?’ was coyotes. She evidently associated the phony TV noise with them.
Her second was Dad snoring. When I told her what it was she said “You’re kidding!”
I’m told I’m pretty loud as well. My bed and the HVAC system in here make different noises not to mention the IV pump that is constantly beeping or alarming.
Our neighbor kid was afraid to be in our house at night because he thought it was haunted. I’m pretty sure it was but not by the sounds that scared him. The oil furnace made various squealing and banging noises. When they extended the upstairs it ended up with solid wood flooring on part and particle board on the other. When it cooled off at night, the difference in materials as the house contracted made sounds like someone walking up there. At least we thought it was.
Then there was the contest to see whose comment sent the neighbor kid running for home. Steve and I just accepted the idea there was an extra guest in the house but still occasionally got the heebie jeeebies. I kind of adopted the philosophy that if it wasn’t trying to harm or eat me we’d just coexist.
The mill had its own set of noises from old buildings and things that banged in the wind to wildlife. We had screech owls, coyotes, and herons who make a terrible squawk when they take off. The old head millwright almost wet his pants the first time he heard one.
My uncle came in one night to find the kid who did the greasing tucked into a corner of the lunchroom with a stick and the lights off. Maybe his boogie man was afraid of the dark? I always thought it was the new noises you had to check out.
Remember to respond and share recollections if you feel like it. Don’t worry about the things that go bump or ‘urraghh wee wee wee’ in the night.
Bye now