Sound on the roof!
I snuggled into my bed, and no
sooner my head touched the pillow ,I was in deep slumber. Suddenly I was wide
awake! I looked in the direction of the watch, it’s neon light flashed 3 a.m.it seemed
I had just closed my eyes. So many hours since 10.30 pm!
There it was again! I could hear the distinct sound of soft
measured footsteps on the roof! In that span of few seconds my mind fed me with
a million possibilities, one worse than the other, if I get down to write them it
could take voluminous proportions! I realize what an amazing thing is the human
mind…mind boggling! Well it was this sound indeed that had disturbed my
subconscious mind.
Somebody definitely was up there, I quickly
slipped out of bed, wore my jacket, went downstairs .I drew away the blinds, through
the spotlessly clean French windows I could see my well- lit wooden deck. It was such a
pleasing sight to watch all my potted plants peacefully asleep. The grapevine
twisted artistically on the far end of the deck making a natural boundary, the
unripe grapes looking so picturesque, out of a Greek picture book! Nothing
looked amiss.
I checked my CCTV footage, there
moments ago –there was a family of Raccoons . They made such a pretty
picture…Mom, with two cubs following her playfully, one dodging the other,
smilingly clutching each other’s tails …it was like watching the discovery
channel of the wild .i watched fascinated forgetting the noise? sound on the
roof,? Predators?...what ?
I switched on the powerful light
on the roof, it looked ethereal .I felt so proud of it ,the reason I had
recently changed the tiles . it was the envy of my neighbors, and a couple of them had followed
suit. It is called the “Demonstration Effect”, I think. The crescent moon just
above my roof looked like the celestial swing! I stretched and yawned ,shut the windows and was glad everything was fine
climbed the stairs and...a stray thought hit me .I had heard stories about raccoons
making attics their homes!
Aghast I decided to do a quick
check. I opened the attic door, it was pitch dark in there .I used
my flash light , three pairs of pools of light reflected from the far
end !O No they had decided to park in mine !I shut the door and got off the
footstool, my head whirling in calculations of unnecessary expenses…that I
would’ve to incur this month. Such as repair s of the damaged roof, attic, and
calling for the services of the city raccoon catcher to get them out…a whopping
sum ! So much for the trip I had planned for my family outing to the beach…Sugar
beach, Wasaga, the coming long weekend in the Caravan . The kids were so
delighted so was my wife looking forward to the prospect of camping out for the
long weekend. every day so many plans were chalked out and changed …had already
got the tents…I could picture the disappointment on their faces which is so
depressing!
I calmed my jangled nerves, ran a
few options in my head, the easiest one was to light up the attic and play some
music. These nocturnal creatures didn’t look the kinds to enjoy this. I
painstakingly managed to put my music system with heavy duty speakers up in
there and worked up some psychedelic lighting in the attic.
Tired I went downstairs , the
clock showed a good two hours had gone by .I stepped out in the porch to
witness the blessed daybreak in all its heavenly glory. The orange sun peeping
through my apple tree! Quickly took a few pictures…I miss out on the dawn
everyday..the pure gentle breeze, darting squirrels chirping birds in the
orange light in the backdrop of blue skies with wispy white clouds …too good!
Captured some great pictures of mine against the backdrop!
Exhausted after the ordeal, I
showered-as the warm water cleaned my body ,it cleared my mind! Breakfast was
ready, I ate the oatmeal with my hazel nut vanilla coffee, ruminating on
tackling the problem at hand-all other work had receded in the recess of my
mind.
I stepped out once again with the
long stepladder to view the problem from the outside. There it was a little
hole in between the main roof and the lower one. it looked like a work of art,
so artfully clawed out. To me it looked too small for them to have got in. I
decided to plug the hole with a large sheet. The idea was to create a panic of being
trapped in . I went inside and put on a psychedelic pandemonium ,lights, blaring jazz music on , I think I put
Pink Floyd’s Time in a loop .
The raccoons didn’t much care for
it and must’ve realized they were trapped as the hole was blocked.
Excited I went out and climbed
the ladder slowly pulled the never ending sheet, and waited with baited breath. Sure enough my surmise was
right. ..they had had enough of the jing bang deafening music and blinding
bright lights .They scampered out as if
someone was after their lives. It was so comical. I was so absorbed in the
whole thing that I was just saved by the skin of my teeth , I ducked in time
the onslaught of the mother, who angrily
snapped in my face. I nearly fell off.
I saw them leave , not happy. I was happy and relieved ,money saved
is money earned…as I was reversing the car from the garage my son shouted, ”where
to Dad?’” I asked him to hop in and on
the way to Hard -ware store to get material for repairs for the hole..i related
my tale all he said was ,”why didn’t you wake me up!”
To make good his disappointment,
we together shortlisted the motorboat we’d
take along, surfing equipment and the Caravan .Excitement rife for the coming
long weekend we drove home.
