Midnight Madness - 30 Aug 1982

Marina, California, 30 August 1982:

10:30 PM: Tom is working at the fire station all night. I turn the lights out, climb into my bed, and hope for a restful night.

11:03 PM: There's a rustling in the backyard just outside my window. Could it be a prowler? I turn on the light to frighten off a potential attacker. I walk into the bathroom and turn on that light as well. I creep into the Tim and Billy's [aka Corey's] room and peek out the window to spot any unsuspecting person. Nobody in sight. I crawl back into bed and listen.

11:27 PM: More rustling! But this time it sounds like it's in my closet, though I know that cannot be! It sounds like someone is going through a paper bag! Footsteps!!! If I didn't know better, I'd think there were rats in the attic! Rats. Rats. . . What could it be?

AHA! I bet it's Sweet Cheeks (our lovely hamster)! That's it. It has to be her.

Now to catch her! I flip on the light next to my bed. YES! She's scampering across the floor! I jump out of bed and run after her. She's quick, eluding me at every turn. What to do?

I refuse to go back to bed with thoughts of a hamster running across my head! Deciding I need reinforcements, I stomp into Tim's room, get him out of bed and convince him to catch her. After all, she is his hamster.

Tim comes into the room, but she's nowhere to be found! We decide to turn out the light pretend to sleep. I turn out the light and we both lie down on the bed, waiting for Sweet Cheeks to reappear.

12:13 PM: Tim has fallen asleep, but I'm still going to catch that furry little thing! Finally, I hear more scampering. I flip on the light. There she is . . .stunned by the light . . right next to the door! I wake Tim up and he runs and picks her up. She didn't even TRY to elude him!!!
Tim walks into his room and accidentally drops her on his bed. Hurry Tim or she'll get away again!! Too late. She disappeared under his bed. Oh well, at least she's in HIS room.
I close the door so she can't go any further, and finally go to bed to get some rest. At least I can sleep knowing we didn't have a real prowler!

1:22 AM: Sarah crawls into bed with me. Hi Sarah.

1:43 AM: Sarah leaves and goes back into her own bed. Bye Sarah.

2:04 AM: Amy appears. "Mom, Sarah's crying in her bed." I get up and go to find out why Sarah's crying. She says she wants to sleep in my bed. Fine Sarah. You can sleep in my bed.

3:27 AM: Billy arrives. "Mom, get me a pan. I think I'm going to throw up!" I scoot Billy into the bathroom and go to the kitchen to find a pan. Will this night ever end?

4:00 AM: Tim gets out of bed, retrieves a stack of newspapers from the front porch, hefts them into the living room, and begins to fold them for his paper route. I can hear the rubber bands snap on each paper.

5:42 AM: Tim calls from the living room, "Mom, can you come here?" I go. What a nice mother I must be. "Mom, can you hold my bike while I put the bags [newspaper bags] on the handle bars?" Sure Tim. I hope these children know how much I love them!

7:30 AM: The troops are up and getting their own cereal. At least I taught them to do something! I try to sleep amid the drone of early morning chaos.

8:15 AM: Tom comes in from work. "How was your night? You look terrible!!" Thanks, I needed to hear that. I'm going to bed.

9:00 AM: I might as well give up. Morning's here and even though I may not be all together, I'm not going to be able to sleep. The sounds of silence are gone.

9:15 AM: Tim calls, "Mom, did you put Sweet Cheeks back in her cage?" No. I did not. "Well, she must have crawled back in, cause she's back there now!" Thank heaven for small favors.

10:00 AM: I take a shower. That should wake me up. I feel a little better, but somehow my head is not quite functioning.

11:00 AM: Tom's mother calls to say her brother Harold Keltner has passed away. I call a local florist to try to send some flowers. Harold's body is at a funeral home somewhere in Phoenix, can the florist find him? No. Oh, I see. The florist asks, "Ma'am, have you ever wired flowers before?" My first impulse was to think, Oh! I learned how to do that in Relief Society! You take this little machine and you stick a flower in one end and the wire in another, and then you wrap the wire with the green florist's tape!! I'm so glad I only said, "Yes! I know how to do that!" When she proceeded to explain the price breakdown for wiring flowers, I discovered she wasn't talking about the same kind of wiring! Oh well. I never did find Uncle Harold, so I guess it didn't make much difference. . . . It was a good thought though!

1:00 PM: I think I'll lie down and take a nap. Great idea. Why didn't I think of this before???

Our New Family Blog

Dim the lights, drum roll, roll up the curtain . . . here it is: Our New Family Blog for Bankheads, Werles, and Farrells. If you're reading this, you already know the location for the blog. We intend to post family stories from the past and links to your own blogs. So here we go! Any suggestions? Let us know.