This morning I was awakened by this very strange sound. The air conditioner was running and I was having difficulty trying to place where it was coming from, or even that I was really hearing something out of the ordinary. Yes, it was something that shouldn’t be there, but what was it? It was sort of squeaky, perhaps a bit of a rattle, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Was it coming from the kitchen? The living room?
It was early, still dark outside, and my eyes argued with me, begging me to go back to sleep, but my ears were alert, and if it was humanly possible, which it is not, they would have been twitching trying to locate where that sound was coming from. I decided if I ever wanted to get back to sleep I had better get up and investigate.
I shuffled out to the living room and glanced into the kitchen. Nope, nothing unusual coming from either one of those places. Nearing the door I heard it again. This time louder. For a moment it stopped all together, but as I leaned my ear against the door it started up again! It was right outside my front door! My heart was thumping! “Shhh, quiet! I can’t hear over the sound of you pounding in my chest!” There it was, “scritch, scritch, scritch.” I had seen “Signs” and “War of the Worlds”! There was no hushing my heart now!
Quickly retreating to the bedroom, I shook Kim’s leg as he lay sleeping. His eyes opened quickly. I immediately placed my finger over my lips to indicate he should remain silent and motioned for him to follow me. He leaned into the front door, but heard nothing. I whispered, “Wait”. There is was, “scritch, scritch, scritch”. Kim’s eyes looked quizzical. It was obvious he didn’t know what it was either. He moved to the front bedroom, which has a window that looks out onto the landing. Peering through the curtains, he saw nothing there, yet the sound continued, “scritch, scritch, scritch”.
Kim’s next move was bold, yet in my eyes, ludicrous! He reached for the locks! He was going to open the front door! You’ve seen this in every alien movie you have ever watched! Some fool decides to get a closer look and ends up slimed, or souped, or otherwise terminated by a 10 ft creature with bug eyes and crazy long fingers!
The door opening just a crack, I waited for those long green fingers to dart through the breach, ready to seize one of us by the arm and drag us to our doom! The sound was louder now. Much louder and infinitely more recognizable!
What was out there was green alright, but it wasn’t aliens. It was frogs and from the sounds of it, hundreds of them. That might have been an exaggeration, but we have had a lot of rain lately and it sounded as though every frog in south Florida was singing in chorus about it! You’d think with the cacophony I would see one or two in the morning still hanging around, chatting about their middle of the night sing-a-long, but nope. They had all retreated to wherever frogs retreat to in the middle of the day, and because I didn’t see nary a one, who really knows for sure that they were little green frogs and not little green men? Scritch, scritch, scritch.
I was watching a segment on morning television that was offering suggestions for Father’s Day gifts. Who doesn’t have a difficult time coming up with the perfect gift for Dad that doesn’t involve a tie, cologne, or socks? Which, by the way, are not perfect! My dad passed away a long time ago and though I no longer stress over the perfect Father’s Day gift, I still have men in my life that present a challenge a couple of times a year, like birthdays and Christmas. Women are much easier to shop for. Don’t believe me, head to your local mall. My son once quipped that you could knock down the walls between stores in a mall and they would all look the same. Just rack after rack of women’s clothing. Men’s clothes are sandwiched between children’s and home goods. Last time I was at the mall, I looked. He’s right.