The window was open just enough to let in the cool night air. The raucous sound of cicadas in the trees had given way to the gentle chirp of crickets. I was almost asleep when my youngest daughter entered my wife’s and my bedroom.
“Daddy!” she sniffled between sobs, “We need a new house. The walls are scaring me.”
“Oh sweety.” I mumbled, trying to get my tired brain together. “It’s nothing.” By this time I was awake enough to hear the muffled “Boom! Boom!” sounds mixing with the crickets outside. “We live near the baseball stadium, and it’s Friday night. They’re just doing fireworks, and it’s shaking the walls of this old house we’re renting.”
I could tell she wasn’t buying it. I also didn’t want to spend another night with her little feet kicking me in the head though, when she inevitably somehow managed to turn herself upside-down in bed between my wife and me. “Come on. I’ll take you back to your room and show you that every thing’s okay.” She nodded slowly.
I dragged myself out of bed and jammed my feet into my slippers. It was too warm for them, but the hardwood floors were filled with splinters and that would have really woken me up. The thumping was getting louder now. I wondered if this was the last show of the year or something, because they were really pulling out all the stops. Had the previous shows been just as loud and I simply hadn’t noticed?
My little girl slipped her hand into mine and I walked her out of the room. As we headed down the
hallway, I caught a glimpse of the schedule for the local minor league team that one of my boys had taped onto the wall. White? I stopped and looked again, closer this time, and checked the date on my fitness band just to be sure.
There was no home game tonight. The team was on the road.
BOOM! BOOM!
The sound was getting louder now, and there were no open windows in the hallway.
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