{"id":1637,"date":"2008-05-19T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-19T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beltdrivebetty.com\/wyzwmnsworld\/?p=1637"},"modified":"2010-09-29T18:27:17","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T01:27:17","slug":"in-the-still-of-the-night-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/?p=1637","title":{"rendered":"In the Still of the Night…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wake up in a strange house<\/span>
in a strange bed<\/span>
from the depths <\/span>
of a deep <\/span>
dark <\/span>
drug induced sleep….<\/span><\/p>\n

I wake up to the sound of the dog barking<\/span><\/p>\n

not the yappy dog of my past<\/span>
but the big rough baritone bark<\/span>
of a full sized guard dog…<\/span><\/p>\n

in an instant I remember<\/span>
I am at the cuz’s house<\/span>
house sitting and dog sitting <\/span>
while they are away…<\/span><\/p>\n

I holler the dog’s name <\/span>
but he continues to bark….<\/span><\/p>\n

I roll over groping for my glasses <\/span>
so I can see the clock<\/span><\/p>\n

it’s 1:31 AM<\/span>
I’ve been asleep for possibly 4 hours<\/span><\/p>\n

my head is muzzy<\/span>
and my heart is racing<\/span><\/p>\n

it is pitch dark <\/span>
in this house<\/span><\/p>\n

I lay listening to the sound of <\/span>
the wind blowing<\/span>
through the leaves<\/span>
of the old growth trees<\/span>
in the yard and the green space<\/span>
behind the house<\/span>
I can hear nothing else<\/span>
but for the sound of my racing heart….<\/span><\/p>\n

why can’t I still<\/span>
my racing heart?<\/span><\/p>\n

the dog begins to bark again…<\/span>
he’s pacing<\/span>
not racing<\/span>
but pacing from the front door<\/span>
to the back<\/span><\/p>\n

this big old dog that I am here<\/span>
to care for<\/span>
that has barked but once <\/span>
in 10 days<\/span>
and that was at a motorcycle <\/span>
2 doors over…<\/span><\/p>\n

the private old neighbourhood<\/span>
cul de sac is quiet<\/span>
traffic free<\/span>
sleeping…<\/span>
but for the sound of the dog barking<\/span><\/p>\n

what do I do?<\/span>
I feel vulnerable<\/span>
in my own home I know where<\/span>
the tools of protection are kept<\/span>
a simple 2 feet from my bed<\/span><\/p>\n

in this big old house<\/span>
they could be a whole floor away<\/span>
a distance of 30 seconds<\/span>
can make a difference between life and death <\/span><\/p>\n

“you watch too much tv” <\/span>
I tell myself<\/span><\/p>\n

I look at the clock again<\/span>
1:40<\/span>
the dog is still barking<\/span>
do I turn on a light?<\/span>
what good will that do in the set up <\/span>
of this house…<\/span><\/p>\n

I get out of bed and tiptoe <\/span>
to the bedroom window<\/span>
the size of a picture window <\/span>
I now realize<\/span>
I peer through the blinds<\/span>
and see nothing untoward…<\/span>
no people<\/span>
no animals <\/span>
no out of place cars<\/span><\/p>\n

the dog is still barking<\/span>
my heart is still racing<\/span>
I turn on the overhead light<\/span>
as I pull on my robe…<\/span><\/p>\n

maybe that’s not such a good idea?<\/span>
now I can see in the room<\/span>
but so can anyone outside of the room<\/span><\/p>\n

“you watch too much tv” <\/span>
I admonish myself again…<\/span><\/p>\n

I exit the room <\/span>
and<\/span>
I literally creep down the hallway <\/span>
towards the living room <\/span>
or kitchen<\/span><\/p>\n

I freeze as I hear a noise<\/span>
and I realize the dog is no longer barking<\/span><\/p>\n

I take a deep breath <\/span>
and swing around into the living room doorway<\/span>
flipping on the overhead light as I do so<\/span><\/p>\n

there’s a man sitting on the couch<\/span><\/p>\n

the dog is standing in front of him<\/span>
and begins barking again<\/span><\/p>\n

wtf?<\/span>
I grab for the phone on it’s base<\/span>
beside me<\/span>
and race into the bathroom <\/span>
slamming the door behind me<\/span>
and locking it<\/span><\/p>\n

as I look at myself in the big mirror<\/span>
over the vanity <\/span>
my heart is racing doubly fast again<\/span>
terror written all over my face <\/span>
eye’s big<\/span>
mouth open <\/span>
panting<\/span><\/p>\n

I realize I should dial<\/span>
911<\/span><\/p>\n

then<\/span>
almost at once I realize that the dog <\/span>
has stopped barking<\/span>
and the man is calling me by name<\/span>
through the door<\/span><\/p>\n

WTF?<\/span><\/p>\n

I take a deep breath<\/span>
and listen to what he’s saying<\/span>
his name is Brandon<\/span>
and he works for my cousin<\/span>
he used to live here<\/span>
he thought there was no one here<\/span>
he’s had a fight with his lady<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he’s had “a couple” of beer<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he knows that the cousin is away<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he didn’t mean to scare me<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he’s sorry he woke me<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
until the dog started to bark<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span>
he’ll leave….<\/span>
he thought no one was here<\/span><\/p>\n

almost in one sentence<\/span><\/p>\n

he thought no one was here<\/span>
I hear the sound of the front door closing<\/span>
and I rest my forehead on the glass of the mirror<\/span>
as I calm my breathing<\/span>
and slow the pace <\/span>
of my racing heart<\/span><\/p>\n

out the window<\/span>
I hear the sound of a car starting<\/span>
and pulling away from the side of the house…<\/span>
and I sit on the throne<\/span>
for a minute or two<\/span>
gathering my wits before <\/span>
coming out of the bathroom…<\/span><\/p>\n

in the still of the night<\/span>
I realize<\/span>
I watch too much tv….<\/span><\/p>\n

I check the locks on the doors<\/span>
and get back into bed<\/span>
but I can’t sleep now<\/span>
I’m too awake now<\/span>
in the still of the night<\/span>
I flip on the tv…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wake up in a strange housein a strange bedfrom the depths of a deep dark drug induced sleep…. I wake up to the sound of the dog barking not the yappy dog of my pastbut the big rough baritone … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4605,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions\/4605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}