Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, January 2, 2017

That New Year's

To celebrate the squeaky-clean beginning of yet another year, I'm going to regale you with the tale of our New Year's Eve of a few year's past . . .
It's a heart-stopper. 
Really . . .
We had spent the evening, much like millions of other people, happily celebrating with friends.
Eating wonderful food that someone else prepared. (My personal favourite.)
Playing games: Charades. Word scramble. Card contests.
And visiting.
Sometime shortly after midnight, we senior citizens called it a successful, wonderful night and left for our respective homes.
Husby and I were safely in bed by 2:00 AM.
All was well.
All was not to remain well.
Just as we were both deeply asleep, someone pounded on our front door.
Pounded.
In my half-awakened state, it sounded frantic to me.
Frightened.
Panicky.
“Grant! Something's wrong!” I screamed, leaping from bed and switching on lights as I sped down the hall.
Mentally, as I ran, I tallied where my kids and grandkids were. Who had stayed in for the evening and who might still be out.
One family, I knew, had taken their little girls to a friends' party. They could conceivably still be out.
What's wrong? What's wrong?
I reached the front door, heart racing and breathing heavily.
I peeked out.
No one.
I opened the door. The front step was echoingly empty.
I stepped out and peered around.
No one.
The night was quiet.
The street deserted.
Nothing moved.
I came back inside and shut the door.
Then I peeked out again.
What on earth . . .?
By this time, Husby was also up.
Doing a circuit of the windows and doors.
No one.
We looked at each other.
Did another circuit.
Still no one.
Puzzled, I headed back to bed while Husby locked up again.
He soon joined me and almost immediately dropped back to sleep.
I didn't.
For the next two hours, heart still racing, my mind spun through every terrible, horrible thing that could ever befall a family that then numbered twenty-five.
It was a long night.
We survived it. 
I mention it because I know you were worried. 
None of the terrible, awful things happened.
And I know that, because this crazy mom/grandma phoned everyone as soon as it was light the next morning.
Two facts remain.
  1. Someone pounded on our door that night. The reasons remain obscure.
  2. Somewhere in our bed remains my heart, scared out of me the moment someone did said pounding.
Happy New Year.

12 comments:

  1. It was probably just a dream....they come complete with sound effects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh. Why couldn't I have dreamed . . . something else?!

      Delete
  2. There is nothing more frightening than a threat to one's loved ones.

    Although, as Delores said, dreams are sometimes just that realistic. Just last evening my husband stumbled from the couch where he'd fallen asleep while watching TV and made a beeline for the front door. Said he heard someone knocking loudly. I was awake and knew there had been no knocking!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or . . . the mysterious person who hammered on my door has finally made their way to yours! ;)

      Delete
  3. Ack.
    As a world champion worrier I would have been awake all night too.
    And, if it was a dream it was definitely misnamed. Worrying about loved ones qualifies as a nightmare first class.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why is everything so much more dire in the middle of the night?!

      Delete
  4. I'm going with the dream theme, They can be so realistic. I was once napping on the couch and three times dreamed that I'd got up and had trouble getting out of the blanket which had wrapped itself around me. When I finally, actually woke up, I was fine and the blanket wasn't wrapped around tripping me up at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've dreamed I've gotten up and am in the middle of getting ready for the day when I wake up. Then I have to do it all over again.

      Delete
  5. Truly terrifying. I do the same thing if the phone rings, run through my head where everyone is.
    And I'd stay awake the rest of the night too, wondering who might be laying out in the yard somewhere where I couldn't quite see them in the dark.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I even thought of sending out our deaf, partially blind sheepdog. Then there would have been two things to find in the dark!

      Delete
  6. ThaT would scare me to death as well!! Sorry it has taken me so long to get back over here to leave a comment----I was completely swallowed up by the holidays!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So happy to see you, Marcia. And I totally understand about the holidays!

      Delete

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