It had been an ordinary night, no loud dog barking or car horns too keep one awake. I would say I had a restful night’s sleep, even though I did wake up somewhat earlier than usual.
It was 6:20 am when I was exiting the Ford Homestead through the garage door. As I stepped out on the drive the extreme darkness was suddenly apparent. I looked around and the only lights I was seeing, were street lights at either end of the street.
This darkness made me even more aware of the stillness of the night. I stood there listening for sounds and I heard nothing, no cars, no dogs, not even a cricket. Is this normal for this early morning hour, or was there something sinister afoot?
Walking stick in one hand and pulling the trash cart with the other I walked cautiously toward the street. There could be someone hiding in the darkness, it would be easy to do.
Leaving the trash cart at the curb I started walking very slowly down the dark street. I look up toward the sky and there was no moon, but I could see the stars, which is unusual as the lights from the surrounding town usually lite up the sky enough to block out the stars.
Today is the first day of fall (it actually starts tonight about 9:50pm) which means, the day and night are of equal length. Tomorrow the days will be shorter and the nights longer as fall enters our world.
The street light at the far end of the street, did not offer any comfort to me in this extreme darkness. The deafening silence was broken, with the distant sound of moving air. I stop and listened for a moment. The sound was not all around me, could there be air moving through only a couple trees? As I took a few more steps down the unlit street, I was aware that this sound was coming from the outside unit of an air conditioner.
I began walking again and I noticed that my right ankle was hurting. It is normal for the left ankle to hurt a little, but not the right. Was this ankle pain and omen, a way of warning me to not go any further into the darkness? I paused again, looking into the darkness which had closed in all around me. I attempted to stretch my ankle to relieve the pain. I knew I would not be able to run very far and certainly not fast with two good ankles, now with this unusual pain in the right ankle I was sure I could not evade any night stalker.
The stretching seemed to help, I took a couple test steps, and the pain was gone. I could now resume my morning walk.
I believe when the darkness is this extreme, one becomes more aware of their surroundings. Toward the middle of the block I could see what appeared to be a mist, coming up from the ground, and at the same time I became aware, there were no cars parked on the street, which is very unusual. It was not a fog but a mist that I could just make out in the darkness.
Again I thought, are all these unusual events, omens, attempting to warn me to, “not walk this morning”?
Walking at a slow pace and carrying my walking stick more as a club for self-defense, I proceeded down the block. As I approached the mist that was coming up from the ground, I could see it was the neighbor’s sprinkler system, watering their lawn.
Silly me I thought, there are no night stalkers here in our neighborhood, so I walked on. As I neared the end of the block I was approaching the area that was lighted by the street light, when I heard a snap sound, off to my right. I turned quickly, there was a tall dark shadow of a man coming toward me.
Good morning Don, were the words from the dark shadow, it was Larry, who lives at the end of the block. Larry had come out to get the morning newspaper. I replied, “Good morning Larry” and continued my walking.
I turned and started back up the block walking from the comfortable light of the street light, back into the extreme darkness.
I continued my morning constitutional and had made several laps up and down the street. It was about 7:00 and the sky was bright and cheerful. I was on my final lap when the young fellow who lives a couple houses up the street, was carrying a bag of trash out to the trash cart, which was already at the curb.
This would be the first time I had spoken to this young man so I said, “a bright and cheerful good morning to you”. He replied, “What”? I repeated “a bright and cheerful good morning to you”, to which he replied, “For some it may be”. I was surprised at that response. He went on to say, “I have to help with my grandmother’s funeral today”. I said, I was sorry for his loss, not knowing what else I could say, I walked on.
That was a heck of a morning constitutional and an unusual first greeting.
I hope your fall weather, is not hot and not cold.
Don Ford
No comments:
Post a Comment