Email a friend  feed   Printer friendly  Comments

Jimmy Koch - Correspondent

(Newald News) - Imagine it is a quiet August night. It is bedtime. The crickets are singing and it is lulling you to sleep. The sound resonates peace and tranquility. Life is good.

Now imagine that cricket is in your bedroom, perched about two feet from your head. It is not 3 a.m. and that blankety-blank cricket has been singing all night. It is amazing how the change in the logistics can change your perspective.

This recently happened to me. I was in California. I had gotten home around 10:30 p.m. from the art show I exhibit in. I put in 12 to 13 hour days at the Sawdust Art Festival. It runs through July and August. Ten in the morning until ten at night seven days a week for nine weeks. By the third week in August, we are beginning to feel the strain. Sleep is precious.

I normally like nocturnal noises like frogs croaking and crickets chirping, but this incident shed a whole new light on the matter.

I was unaware of my house guest as I drifted off to sleep. Being as tired as I was, it didn’t take me long to fall into a deep sleep. Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden I heard “creeka, creeka, creeka” at full volume.

My heat skipped a beat as I peeled myself off the ceiling. I wasn’t about to tear apart my bedroom and disturb my summer renter and my downstairs tenant at that hour of the morning so I figured out if I thumped on the bed, he would quiet down for a while and that is how I finished off sleeping until 6 a.m. when I normally get up.

I put the incident behind me, forgetting about it until I got home the next night and folded back my bed covers. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. The room was dark. I have black bed sheets and somehow through the grace of God I saw the infuriating cricket.

Not only was he in my room, he was in my bed! With amazing stealth and the agility of a bird of prey, I snatched the cricket, taking care not to injure it.

Although part of me wanted to tear his noisy little legs off, I released him into the wild to mate and produce more tranquility on a quiet August night, although hopefully not in my bedroom. And that’s the view from my stump.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.

Post a comment (150 word limit) »

We will not post reader comments containing racial, religious or personal attacks, slander, profanity, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers or Web site addresses that are for personal or promotional gain.

Name: Email: (optional) Comments: Image Verification: (Case sensitive)

Thank you for your comments! Once your comments are approved, they will appear on the site.