More tomfoolery has reared its unexplained head in Thevictorian household!
Tuesday, I got back from town around 3:15. The Pony ate his Burger King lunch as he scratched off his $100 winner. I prepared my lunch tray, then changed into lair-wear before my descent down the 13 stairs to the basement. I asked The Pony to carry my tray and drinks.
I was in the kitchen, grabbing my cell phone, when I heard The Pony exclaim,
"Uh. Mom ? I think you need to see what I found down here!"
That's never a good thing. The worst experience in the past was when 10-year-old Genius said it, and there was a giant millipede marching across the braided rug. I gave him a glass bowl to trap it until Hick got home from work. Genius swore that the heavy bowl was MOVING as the millipede tried to escape. The most tame experience was then The Pony found Tank, our BEAGLE, in the basement, lying on the couch! All of our dogs are outside dogs. I've never known one to turn a doorknob. Somehow, Tank had gotten into the house while we were at school, and made himself at home. Hick thinks the basement door didn't latch, and Tank pushed it open and came in.
Anyhoo... this time, The Pony got my attention. I went to the banister and looked over.
That's my SCARF! The scarf my mom gave me, way back when I was teaching, and had parking lot duty in the winter. It's been hanging on the banister for years. You know how you forget something is there. It just belongs. Here it is, after The Pony replaced it.
It's a long, dark-green scarf, knotted at the ends. Long enough to balance. Not short. Not slippy-slidey silk. Just a store-bought (with LOVE!) knit scarf. We don't touch the banister there. The scarf is heavy enough that it doesn't flap in the breeze if The Pony trots by on the way to his room, the door to which is in the upper right corner area, separated by that white strip of wall from his bathroom at the top middle of the darkness.
Sometime between when I came upstairs around 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, and returned home at 3:15, Scarfy took a dive! Sure, you may suggest that The Pony brushed against it. But The Pony has been back here since last May, and has never done that before. There are shoes lined up against the base of the banister there, so you can't walk close to the rail.
Let the record show that we were planning a trip to the casino the next day, and 3 inches of snow was in the forecast...
Our resident paranormal force is stepping it up!
Maybe a millipede knocked it over. Is there no railing down those stairs? That would scare me.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention a rail... Hick was supposed to install one when we first moved in, before he'd even put down the press-on tiles, or paneling/whiteboard on the walls. Because, you see, we had 3-year-old Genius to worry about. Of course, he was as surefooted as a mountain goat. I was the one who needed a rail.
DeleteAnyhoo... still waiting on my handrails. I grasp the bottom of the banisters as long as I can. Then the carpeted floor. Then I have 3 steps left, where I have to reach out to the main floor beam running across the basement ceiling, and the metal support pole. I've got a routine.
MILLIPEDE! We've never seen one upstairs, and it better stay that way!
Where are the handrails on those stairs young lady? Dangerous and ghostly.
ReplyDeleteI am not the handrail builder! See my reply to joeh for the details.
DeleteThe two steps where the scarf landed are EXACTLY where we found The Pony, with blood spreading around his head, from a fall while carrying down his corn dogs to watch a movie when he was about 8 years old.
When we heard the scream, Hick shoved me out of the way like George Costanza escaping a child's birthday party after smelling smoke. He rushed down those steps like an Olympic stair-goer-downer. GOOD THING IS WAS ONLY KETCHUP, NOT BLOOD! The Pony had a scrape on his back, but was fine otherwise. The corn dogs were a total loss.
That's your mother telling you to wear the scarf because it will be snowy and cold.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe telling us not to go to the casino during a weather advisory for snow!
DeleteMessage to Hick: build and install a handrail on the basement stairs! You don't want me coming all that way just to whup you, right? It's a long way from here and I'd miss lunch as well as dinner.
ReplyDeletePlus you'd have to quarantine for a while, and Lola would miss you! If Hick didn't build a rail for his toddler boys, he's not about to jump up and make one for decrepit Val.
DeleteThat view with no rails just plain scares me!
ReplyDelete13 STEPS! That's why I use The Pony for my pack horse as often as possible, so I can hold on to something while walking down.
DeleteHick is as timely as HeWho is about finishing projects!
ReplyDeleteThey are good at STARTING projects...
DeleteI am beginning to think maybe the #13 as in 13 stairs may trigger your para activity.
ReplyDeleteGood thing I'm not triskaidekaphobic!
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