Heart-Stopping Moment
Contrary Mary awoke this morning and looked a little worse for wear.
She told me that she’d been awake most of the night. Even when she hasn’t, she tends to tell me that. I’m convinced that, in seniors in particular, sometimes you can be sound asleep and not know that you’re really asleep.
However, I digress: She told me that she’d heard a noise at about 3 this morning. Someone had opened the front door, she insisted, and when she came downstairs to see who it was, the person left, shut the door behind them, and locked the door. After that, she couldn’t sleep a wink.
While I didn’t hear any noises through the night other than her shuffling to and from the bathroom, I was momentarily rattled. I assured her that it was only a dream. After all, even at the best of times, she takes a good five minutes to get out of bed and get herself down the stairs. No one has a key to this house except myself and two of my brothers. And I’ve never known an intruder caught in the act to excuse themselves, leave the house and lock the door behind them. She was convinced that it was all very real.
If the intruder was real, I somehow doubt that she would play the hero and go and investigate the noise without calling it to my attention. Although these days, God knows what matters she would take into her own hands.
It was a dream, right?
