A Little Unexpected

First of all, I should tell youthat, following a home invasion a few months ago, Mom insisted Sally have analarm system installed. A loud one.With buttons in every room of thehouse.Which, when pressed, can signal Arcturus.Well, that’s what it seems like.Actually, I was fairly enthusiasticabout said alarm system, being intimately involved in said invasion.On with our story…Okay, I admit it.I overreacted.But when one lives with Sally…Sally and Mort have returned. She was away, filming some sort of thriller—adeparture for her. Mostly she’s been cast in adventures.She doesn’t have to act for those.(snort!)Ahem…Anyways, this film featured Sally (inthe starring role) as a girl who ends up staying in some sort of hauntedcastle. They were filming at a genuine castle somewherein Romania. Where, apparently, the ‘spookiness’didn’t have to be enhanced in any way.‘Nuff said.But since they’ve been back, Sallyhas been…anxious. You know, nightmares. Sleepwalking.Like we didn’t have enough tocontend with when she is just ‘normal’.What am I saying?!It’s been strange because, up untilnow, there hasn’t been anything that seems to disturb our girl. She has handledher usually self-inflicted chaotic life—including kidnapping —with equanimity (look it up) and courage.Anyways, at about 11 pm I kissedPeter goodnight at the front door and waved him off, then headed to bed.Everyone else had already retiredand the house was blessedly quiet.It remained so for a couple ofhours.Then there was a horrendous screamnext to my bed.I am not making this up. The screamwas right there beside me!Of course, it was Sally, on one ofher new sleep-walking dream tours. Something Ifigured out later. After my brain actually caught up.Of course, I sat straight up from mysound sleep.Of course, I slapped the button onthe night table next to my bed.And the aforementioned alarm system?Well, just know that there areemergency workers enroute from Arcturus as we speak.The ones closer by—ie. the police—arrivedwithin a couple of minutes.Confusion, shouting and milling bypartially-awake people along with the screaming ofa very upset baby added to the confusion.Let’s just face it—if anyone in ourneighbourhood—in our city—had been asleep, they weren’t any longer.By the time the police had shut offthe klaxon, ascertained (Ooo! Good word!) that no one had broken in and Sallyet al were safe and accounted for, every light in the neighborhood was on withmost of the neighbours standing out on their lawns. Or ours.Sleep was probably banned forever.Sigh.The police finally left.Mom and Dad took Ivy Jean up totheir suite to calm her down.Even Sally and Mort disappeareddownstairs into their apartment.With stern admonitions for Sally tostay there.And never work on another scary picture.Ever.I was sitting on the front step, enjoyingthe newfound peace when Peter appeared on hisbicycle.In his PJ’s.Oh, I forgot to mention that thealarm also goes off at his house—something he insisted on after that homeinvasion wherein I…never mind. You understand.“Gwen!” he gasped out. He droppedthe bike on the lawn and scooped me up off the step. “Are you all right?”I felt my face grow hot. “Yeah. Itwas a misunderstanding.”“Oh, man! I’ve never been so worried.I couldn’t get you on your phone—or anyone else either.”“Oh, sorry. Things were a little—”He didn’t wait for me to finish. “Thenmy stupid car wouldn’t start!” His hold on me tightened. “The distance fromyour house to mine might as well have been from here to the moon!”“Yeah, I think they heard the alarmthere—”Again he interrupted. “I can’tstand this a moment longer!” He set me down, then dropped to one knee. “Gwen,will you marry me? Please?”
Use Your Words is a writing challenge!Each month, I exchange words with my friend and intrepid leader, Karen of Baking in a Tornado Neither of us knows what the other will do with her words.This month, Karen gave me: found ~ where ~ people ~ return ~ dreamThank you, my friend!Now go see what Karen did with my words!BakingIn ATornado