Exactly one week ago today, I had the strangest morning.
It all started with a thin glowing light emanating around the attic access panel in the hallway outside my bedroom. It hadn’t been glowing the night before when we went to bed.
Then a mysterious moisture covered our lawn, indicating the sprinklers had run but not on their assigned day. We’d not had any recent power outages to explain the glitch.
Then when I returned from my morning walk, the attic light was OFF. I asked my husband if that was his doing. He said no.
As I drove to work, I spotted an unfamiliar man walking in the street, dressed suspiciously nice, and pushing a baby stroller. No. Not a stroller. And he wasn’t actually pushing it. It was some kind of James Bond-esque self-propelled golf caddy cart. Very nefarious indeed!
To top it all off, the fog rolled in, and I could barely see past the hood of my car as I drove to work. We get fog about 3 days a year, so that fact that it came on that particular morning spiked my suspicions that I somehow woke up inside a Jaime Jo Wright novel.
Now, I’m sure there are rational explanations for all of these things. We had an air conditioning tech in our attic a couple weeks ago, and it’s possible he left a light on, and it might be one of those lights that when overheated turns itself off. Our sprinkler system has been glitchy for several weeks and even though we checked the night before that it was set correctly, when we checked that morning, it apparently went backward to Tuesday instead of forward to Thursday. My husband has since checked the attic, and the light was off, so we’re still not sure about the “ghost light” as our dear friend Mater would call it. We did, however, put to rest Jamie Jo’s theory that a stranger was living in our attic. Whew!
My working theory is squirrels. Squirrels in the attic teasing us with the light. Squirrels setting off the sprinklers. Even squirrels powering the caddy cart. There could easily have been squirrels running inside hamster balls hidden in the bottom of that bag. Not sure how the critters are responsible for the fog, but I’m not ruling them out. Ever seen Ice Age? I rest my case.
What creative explanation can you create to explain all these strange happenings?
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Joy says
Are you sure Jaime Jo Wright isn’t the one in your attic and messing with the sprinklers? And I’m sure the fog follows her wherever she goes… it’s the ambience of her books. Maybe set up a little camera in the attic… LOL
Karen Witemeyer says
Ha! You might be on to something there, Joy. LOL! I wouldn’t put it past her. 🙂
Deborah Raney says
Well, that was a fun—and slightly scary!—way to start my morning! 🙂
Karen Witemeyer says
Ha! Sometimes having a writer’s imagination can be a detriment.
D'Ann Mateer says
Oh, my! I think I’d be a little freaked out with all that at once! I’m not a scary story kind of girl! 🙂
Karen Witemeyer says
I’m not either, D’Ann. It was a little creepy. But mostly, Wes and I just laughed about it.
Sylvia M. says
Well, since you’ve now brought squirrels into the story it has become a novel co-written by Jaime Jo Wright and Jen Turano. I cannot even imagine what the book would be like if those two teamed up on a writing project!
Karen Witemeyer says
LOL! That would be a crazy fun read, Sylvia.
Gena Bessire says
Hahaha, I would have been right there with you, Karen. That is a crazy way to start a day. I don’t like scary stories. I have a good enough imagination without someone else feeding me ideas. 😉
At home, I am the one who goes around and double-checks all the doors and windows and turns off the lights before we go to bed at night or leave. We have Ring cameras lining our property, courtesy of my sweet husband; they are a comfort and also great for figuring out who left the freezer in the shop wide open when the kids declare, “Not me.” 😂
Karen Witemeyer says
Ha! Love your spy camera set up, Gena. 🙂
Sandi says
This made me chuckle as a number of years ago, we had what I assume was a bear pull down our bird feeder pole in the middle of the night. My husband’s theory was a squirrel. For that theory to work it would have taken a band of marauding nocturnal squirrels leaping at the pole to bring it down. Still cracks me up!!