Things that go bump in the night...
"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, Dear Lord, preserve us!"
My mother has a sampler with that saying. It caught my attention when I was a child, and it's stayed with me all these years.
Things went "BUMP IN THE NIGHT" last night! I've been having trouble sleeping and had managed to block out all the little aches and pains, and was sound asleep when there was a knock on our bedroom door. It was 3:00 in the morning. I assumed that Second Son had knocked to tell me that Elegant Mother was in distress. I managed to unwind myself from the nest of covers and ran for the door.
The lights were on in the foyer, and I could hear voices as I approached. I'd left the bedroom in such a hurry that I was in my nightie and had left my glasses behind. EM and SS were standing there talking to two policemen! Let me tell you, when you've just been rousted out of bed in the middle of the night, those guys can look really fierce!
They explained that the police had received a 911 call from our address, and when they responded, all they could hear was static. Yesterday the phone company had worked on two of our three telephone lines. Elegante Mother's phone was still misbehaving. The police asked if our phones had been worked on, and when I replied, "Yes," they nodded knowingly and prepared to leave.
Second Son said this morning that he was surprised that they didn't ask to check the house to be sure that no one was being held against their will. I guess we all looked properly sleepy enough to convince them that we were victims of a technology malfunction.
This morning, I called the phone company to ask for a repair call, and told the customer service rep about our early morning visit. She asked if we had any wireless phones in the house. Elegante Mother has a base phone, with a wireless. From what the representative said, wireless phones can send out that 911 call! I had no idea that was possible.
I guess this happens often enough that the police can just about guess what has happened, but they still have to follow up on the call. We wouldn't want someone who needs assistance to go without because someone thought their call was just a phone malfunction.
Our visitors came in separate cars. They used their flashlights to look around as they came up the sidewalk. and then they rang the doorbell, THREE TIMES! I never heard it. In fact, I was so deeply asleep that I didn't hear the knock on the bedroom door. Dear Husband had to wake me. We're lucky that Second Son woke up and realized that no one else heard the bell, or the police might have tried to break the door down.
Well....all's well that ends well. We all got to go back to sleep for a couple of hours, and there was no ticket or fine for the false call. I guess in the future things had better go BUMP louder! And, maybe it's time to keep my robe by the bed! *G*
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