Paranormal Activity...

Living with 4 year olds, especially caring considerate independent "big girl" 4 year olds, sometimes feels like living in a haunted house. With the spook being scared of the dark herself, and the whole house gleaming with night lamps, we sometimes see shadows moving around, floor boards creaking, the water running in the sink. Sometimes, I hear a voice, almost bordering at a cry, call out to me a few times, but when I answer, an I-can't-take-it-anymore, deafening silence is thrown at me. Now I know that the silence is mini-me having resolved her wrestling match with her quilt. Sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, we are woken up, rather rudely, with a kick in the gut or a head bang or sometimes even a not-so-subtle slap in the face only to find a dwarf-ish figure fast asleep. And we try to think when exactly did this Lilliput get here and we haven't got a clue. She's so quiet, and such a smooth operator, we never know when she comes or goes. On some days, around dawn, I would get a strong feeling that there's someone in the room. Like someone's staring at me. I open my eyes hoping to end a nightmare and expecting to see nothing. But, there it is. A shadow moving at the foot-end of my cot, crawling into bed and under my quilt. With some good fortune, I have grown up to be someone who neither believes in ghosts nor God. And that's probably why I haven't ended up like that guy in some horror movie who walked through a graveyard at night, heard some coins jingle in his pocket, thought it was the ghost's anklets and died of a heart attack (funny movie, that one!!) . And soon I might write a thesis on 'The Types of Silences that Operate in a Typical Household and How To Identify Them' ;)