Night Sounds

One of the things I love about where we live is that our house is adjacent to a national park, so we have lovely woods behind us. On spring nights like tonight, my favorite pastime is sitting on the porch and listening to the various sounds. It is unbelievably quiet for a location in the city, and the forest provides a special soundtrack as I sit and unwind from the day.

Tonight I was listening to the distant calls of the whipporwill and an owl, underpinned by the soft cadence of frogs and a few cicadas. As I marveled at the perfect night, Dair interrupted my thoughts.

She thumped out onto the porch and said, "Well, I think I'll get ready for bed now." "Ok," I replied. A few minutes later she returned, now in pajamas and without hearing aids in place and asked, "Are you still out here?" "Yes," I said. She took a few steps toward the place I was sitting and asked a little more loudly, "Are you still out here?" "Yes," I said in a louder voice. Once more, she asked, and once more, while yelling, I replied, "Yes!!"

"Well, I'm going to bed now," Dair said. "OK," I yelled. The magic spell was broken. I followed her into the house and got ready for bed.