Sound Sleepers
A true Story
“Sparky! You almost killed me! Outside!”
I commanded in a low voice. The startled beast having
suffered such a demeaning assaulted on his person obeyed. He walked over to the screen door opened it with his nose and
walked out into the backyard. No doubt wondering what he did wrong. I glanced at the clock next to the bed and said to myself, “Good God, 5 AM already!” Then I looked at my husband who had turned off the alarm and
still managed to sleep through all this boisterous commotion. “That man could sleep through anything.” In the
darkness, I groped my way around the bed to the closet door then found the hallway and the bathroom. I entered, closed the
door behind me, flipped on the switch and proceeded to see red and white dots shooting across my eyes for several minutes. “Oh,
that hurts! My eyes! My eyes! Oh, what a shock that was!” Gradually my eyes adjusted to the light allowing me to
look into the mirror at my forehead—it was slightly red from the impact I had with the wall, but nothing serious. I would live! My thoughts turned to my dog, “poor Sparky”. Then
something told me to open the bathroom door and when I did, I found Sparky sitting on the other side smiling up at me wagging his tail.
I gave him lots of love and a written apology. After which I showered, dressed, checked my email and then set off for
my friend’s house.
Thirty minutes later, I am at my friend’s house in Oceanside.
Approaching the door I notice that the curtains are open. There
are no lights on or any activity going on in the house. I knocked and wait. Nothing happened, so I knocked again…no one
responded. This is strange I check the driveway for her car…it was not there! Then
I do what any red-blooded American would do and that is jump to a conclusion. “What kind of person asks you to baby-sit and
then disappears on you without a word? How rude! How inconsiderate! This is a friend? A thousand plagues upon you!”
I got back into my truck and sat
there grumbling to myself. I looked at my calendar and the date on my watch. They
did not match—I then realized that I had come a week early! I laughed at myself and said aloud, “I take it all back. I lift my curse and offer a thousands pardons.” Where am I supposed to be today? E-gads! I am supposed to be at the Dickman’s and I am late! Fortunately “for me”
the Dickman’s home is on the same street as my friend.
Meanwhile at the Dickman Home
“This isn’t a good sign the garage door open. That
means Lee is ready to go to work. I better get my butt in the house. Hope she isn’t mad!”
I rushed
around to the back-end of my truck, “Come Sparky!”
We ran into the garage and I turned the knob to the
door, it was locked. “How odd.” I knock on the door, but nobody answered. “Lee must be in the bathroom”. I went around to the front of the house and used my house key to unlock
the door. The door would not open all the way because the safety chain was latched. Good
grief! I stuck my arm through the opening and unlatch it.
As I enter the house I am still thinking that Lee is in the downstairs bathroom and the children are
asleep upstairs in their beds so I am trying to be very quite. This is when Sparky knocks the door out of my hand, pushing me
aside causing the door slam against the doorstop. He runs through the house in “Sparky drive” which is like a fox being
chased by hounds. He darts up and down the stairs, into the kitchen, down the hall, out into the living room dodging all my attempts to corral him. He jumps over the glass coffee table serpentines pass me, runs up the stairs again, jarring loose some wooden knickknacks
from the wall. This time, as he descended the stairs, I manage to catch him. I
grab him by his collar and whisper in a stern voice,
“Bad dog! Bad dog! Get outside!”
I put him out in the backyard and closed the sliding glass door.
Then I waited, any minute Lee Dickman should come out and scold me, but nothing happened. Gee, she must be in a good
mood Brett and Cearra sure are “sound sleepers”. Now that the “Sparky stampede” was over I could sit-down and wait for my day to begin. I waited and
waited. Getting bored within seconds, so I decided to watch something on television.
Twenty minutes later I am still sitting there waiting
for Lee Dickman to go to work. This is too—strange! What is she doing in there? Putting
up wallpaper? Maybe she fell and hit her head? Better check on her. I knock on the bathroom door, but no one answered. Next I turn the knob and open the
door to the bathroom and it was empty. What is going on here? Where is Shelby
Dog? Some watchdog she is…I could be a robber and no one would ever discover me. Why is it so cold in this house? I checked the thermostat, and it was off—that was weird, it is usually
set at eighty. Where is everybody? What is going on here? Better check on the children. First I look in Brett’s room he was not in his bed. Well that explains Sparky’s behavior.
Then I look in Cearra’s room—she was not in her bed. Maybe the children are in their mother’s bed? Yes, they must be there so what do I do now? Should I wait for everyone to wakeup? Should I go home? Drive all the way home? What if I have to come back?
That would be a waste of gas. Should I look inside the master bedroom? Gee,
this is really an awkward position to be in. Why was the garage door left open—Lee never leaves the garage door open. What is going on here? Maybe something is wrong. What if
something has happened to the Dickman’s? What if they are…no I wont think about that. They are all right I know they are. There must be some type of mistake happening here. Still why do I have this bad
feeling in the pit of my stomach? I have to open this door and see what is in this room. I took a deep breath, and knocked lightly…no one
answered. I tried again. Well, here goes I turned the doorknob and opened the
door. There lying on the king size bed with Lee Dickman was Cearra and Brett they were all breathing and sound asleep.
Thank God! What
a relief! Now what do I do? Leave? Wait? Suppose Lee is over sleeping and should be at work? Should I awake her? She works such late hours I would hate to wake her, but what else can I do? I feel really stupid standing
here in her bedroom looking at her like this. What if she wakes up and finds me here? What
do I say? She might think I am some type of pervert. I feel like an intruder. What do I do? I think I should wake her up. I took another deep breath; step forward
and gently shook Lee Dickman’s arm.
“Lee, Lee are you over sleeping?” I ask.
It took sometime before she could acknowledge me. Slowly
she awoke enough to answer me, “What are you doing here?” She asked with one eye open.
A reasonable question I think… considering I was standing in her bedroom at 6 A.M. in the
morning.
“My schedule says I work today”. I answered
meekly showing her the piece of paper in my hand.
“You don’t work today. I think you are looking at an
old schedule dear, I haven’t given you the new schedule yet,” she said apologetically, “I am sorry you drove all this
way.”
(And I got up at 5 A.M. to be here!) Well, I am so sorry
I disturbed your sleep. Now, go back to sleep…”Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep L-e-e Dick-man,” I sang softly,
“Shhh, I was never here this was a bad dream. I’ll lock up.”
I backed out of the Dickman’s master bedroom like a servant from the King and I and closed the door
quietly. Then I shut the garage door, got my dog, locked up and drove home laughing. Gee,
what a morning I have had!
Those Dickman’s and "their dog" sure are sound sleepers.
The End
Written By: Cynthia E. Martin
Date: December 13, 1997
Copyright © 2001by Visions West Inc. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: 03/14/02 08:30:01 AM
Principle Characters
Brett Dickman age 11
Cearra Dickman age 4
Lee Dickman, Brett’s and Cearra’s
mother
Cynthia E. Martin—forty
something: the storyteller and Dickman’s baby-sitter
Shelby Dickman – dog
Sparky Barky Martin – dog
Lab/Chow mix, about 120 pounds
Setting Dickman house, San Diego
County, California.
Year: 1997
