Bright blue eyes peeked out from behind a mass of blond; a meshed web of shiny strands requiring the stroke of a brush. “Hi!” Carolyn leapt from her daughter, a spontaneous reaction she could not avoid, startling both of them. She peered up toward the ceiling, trying to hear anymore movement. Her immediate thought was of an intruder in the house. She bolted through a hallway from which April emerged; climbing stairs two steps at a time; mind flooding with regrets at an obvious oversight: failing to bring along something made of cast iron…as a weapon. Searching bedrooms one at a time, Carolyn found nothing amiss. Quickly returning to find April, anxious to make amends, as she had frightened the child, they met halfway in the middle bedroom upstairs. Carolyn had been followed. April’s unexpected presence again startled the woman, a bit on the jittery side of a new reality.
“What’s wrong, mom?” Breathless, April was curious and equally alarmed.
“Nothing honey; I thought I heard something. That’s all.”
“Maybe you did.” An innocent voice: “I hear stuff up here all the time.”
“What kind of stuff do you hear?” April shrugged her shoulders then took her mother by the hand, leading her out of one bedroom into another.
Her heart still pounding from the sprint, Carolyn did not follow up on these remarks at the time. April asked if she could go back into the chimney closet to play but her mother was reluctant to allow her to return. Instead, she took her daughter downstairs into the kitchen where they’d play a spirited game of Chutes and Ladders . April won. Her mother made sure of it.
Over lunch, Carolyn inquired about what April had heard in the house. The child had already moved on, other thoughts occupying her mind. She did not respond in any depth of description, only telling her mother she heard noises coming from other rooms when she was in the closet. This was true of all the residents, especially during the night. Whether it was a brisk wind whistling through the eaves or a poorly stacked log in the woodshed taking a tumble or the natural expansion and contraction of the structure, the quiet home made a great deal of sound in the darkness; no silent nights there but it was daytime.
Carolyn put April down for a nap. Indulging a cup of coffee, in preparation for the chaos which would surely ensue when her darlings disembarked from a bus in the coming hour, she leaned into the sofa, listening to the house with new ears…looking with new eyes. She began wondering if the seclusion had tricked her senses or bewitched her mind. No. Her senses were working fine.
There was no doubt about it. Their farmhouse was cavernous. As the light dispersed it would dissipate, as if being absorbed. Sounds were warped and distorted within plaster walls; it would either become magnified or be utterly lost in the ether. When amplified, the home seemed to be wired for sound: no privacy in even a whisper. At other times, an opposite effect occurred and the most vehement shout was inaudible at the slightest distance. The house broke all the basic rules of physics, what human beings have long presumed to be a given: Immutable Laws of the Universe. Having never before encountered something so bizarre, she marveled; its acoustics defied logic. Had she been a natural scientist, perhaps it would have made some sense. No longer merely a matter of intellectual curiosity, Carolyn found herself concerned about the welfare of her child this February morning; she could not attribute the sounds she’d heard overhead to anything or anyone, yet she experienced it. Until that morning she had assumed there was a rational and reasonable explanation for everything; a sensible notion being formally challenged. Imagine.
Unique acoustics could not explain the event. Contemplating exactly what happened and when, Carolyn re-created the moment in mind when April was standing beside her. She recalled reverberations in the floorboards
“What’s wrong, mom?” Breathless, April was curious and equally alarmed.
“Nothing honey; I thought I heard something. That’s all.”
“Maybe you did.” An innocent voice: “I hear stuff up here all the time.”
“What kind of stuff do you hear?” April shrugged her shoulders then took her mother by the hand, leading her out of one bedroom into another.
Her heart still pounding from the sprint, Carolyn did not follow up on these remarks at the time. April asked if she could go back into the chimney closet to play but her mother was reluctant to allow her to return. Instead, she took her daughter downstairs into the kitchen where they’d play a spirited game of Chutes and Ladders . April won. Her mother made sure of it.
Over lunch, Carolyn inquired about what April had heard in the house. The child had already moved on, other thoughts occupying her mind. She did not respond in any depth of description, only telling her mother she heard noises coming from other rooms when she was in the closet. This was true of all the residents, especially during the night. Whether it was a brisk wind whistling through the eaves or a poorly stacked log in the woodshed taking a tumble or the natural expansion and contraction of the structure, the quiet home made a great deal of sound in the darkness; no silent nights there but it was daytime.
Carolyn put April down for a nap. Indulging a cup of coffee, in preparation for the chaos which would surely ensue when her darlings disembarked from a bus in the coming hour, she leaned into the sofa, listening to the house with new ears…looking with new eyes. She began wondering if the seclusion had tricked her senses or bewitched her mind. No. Her senses were working fine.
There was no doubt about it. Their farmhouse was cavernous. As the light dispersed it would dissipate, as if being absorbed. Sounds were warped and distorted within plaster walls; it would either become magnified or be utterly lost in the ether. When amplified, the home seemed to be wired for sound: no privacy in even a whisper. At other times, an opposite effect occurred and the most vehement shout was inaudible at the slightest distance. The house broke all the basic rules of physics, what human beings have long presumed to be a given: Immutable Laws of the Universe. Having never before encountered something so bizarre, she marveled; its acoustics defied logic. Had she been a natural scientist, perhaps it would have made some sense. No longer merely a matter of intellectual curiosity, Carolyn found herself concerned about the welfare of her child this February morning; she could not attribute the sounds she’d heard overhead to anything or anyone, yet she experienced it. Until that morning she had assumed there was a rational and reasonable explanation for everything; a sensible notion being formally challenged. Imagine.
Unique acoustics could not explain the event. Contemplating exactly what happened and when, Carolyn re-created the moment in mind when April was standing beside her. She recalled reverberations in the floorboards
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