Somewhere between the dishwasher’s rinse cycle downstairs and the moment I usually fall asleep is a quiet time of night where I listen to nothing after a day’s fabric of noise. In the middle of this spell, the silence is usually broken by a pair of great horned owls. One has a perch near the deck, the other a block or so down, and they rally back and forth for several minutes over this and that. It always makes me smile. I enjoy this time. Sleep follows soon thereafter.
A few months ago, a little toy truck of Ford’s awoke me in the middle of the night (in my BEDROOM!) with a shorted battery going BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP chuggachuggachugga and, without opening an eye, I lurched for the toy and chucked it out the window. I didn’t care that Ford loved this truck so much that he took it into the bathtub with him (explaining the short). I didn’t ponder how he’d feel about it’s sudden disappearance.
Well, he didn’t ask for it after the toy disappeared. But I felt the bad karma might return to me. And it has, with the BEEP BEEP BEEP sound of a reversing toy truck rattling from the forest floor below my window. It’s a little elfin hardhat area hammering away at my nerves.
See? This is why I am getting rid of all the plastic, battery-op crap. What’s a Waldorf doll going to do to me? STARE me to death with two beady little embroidered eyeballs?
Chuckle. This was a beautifully written post. I am looking forward to living in a place where I can hear owls… and I’m so against battery operated toys. They really drive me bonkers. I keep them for long car trips when my son recieves them as gifts.