Dad's Birthday Visit

At my age, unless I have something important to get up for, I rarely know what day it is, let alone the date. I need a reminder, either on my phone or on my PC to let me know if it is someone's birthday or if I have an important "date" to keep. In other words, I no longer have a memory - only a "forgettery!" With this in mind, I will recount the odd occurrences in our home on Sunday. Yes, I did remember it was a Sunday LOL.

Ray (my hubby) and I were seated at our respective PCs, next to each other in our PC room. (So what's new?) Ray was watching a movie; I was typing a letter to a new cyber friend. All was quiet in the house, except for the drone of the movie playing next to me. Unexpectedly, from our left, came the loud sound of wood being moved or dragged. We both hopped in our seats, with surprise. Ray jumped up to see what was moving. We have a few cardboard boxes stacked to our left, but no wood, except for a large display case (mainly glass) containing Ray's model motor bikes. Well, as you may have guessed, the source of this sound was not discovered. Ray sat down again, and the matter was discussed for a minute or two. We agreed that it was definitely the sound of wood. Another mystery!

Seeing that there had been so few odd happenings in our house lately, I decided to enter it into my journal. I had just entered the date and time, when a thought hit me like a ton of bricks! It was 6th October, my Dad's birthday! Now, my Dad was a carpenter - what better way to remind me of him than wood and that specific date? I surprised Ray by saying out loud, "Happy Birthday, Dad!" Poor fellow, he thought I had lost it (again)! I had to launch into an explanation for him to realize that all my marbles were still intact.

That night I went to let Zeus (our hound) in as usual, at approximately 10 pm. The wind was blowing a small gale, but Zeus was not in a hurry to be let in. He turned in circles in front of our inner security gate, just outside our front door. He was prevaricating... Usually he makes a dash to get inside, no matter what is going on outside - unless there is a cat to chase.

Eventually I got my mutt inside the house, closing the security gate while I checked the motor gate and put out fresh water in the dog's bowl. As I made to re-enter the house, here was Zeus, prancing up and down in consternation. I thought that he was just anxious to be given his nightly bone, but I was dead wrong. As I entered the lounge, there lay the big meaty bone on Zeus' mat - Ray had beaten me to it and already given our "big boy" his treat, but he wasn't interested. It crossed my mind that Zeus was trying to get cute and cadge another treat out of me. I walked to the kitchen, and amidst much rustling of packets, produced another kind of doggy treat. Zeus looked at it, sniffed, and turned his head away in disdain... Well, I tried, so what now?

During all of my pre-bedtime routine, Zeus pretended to be "joined at the hip" with me. I nearly tripped over him half a dozen times - I couldn't even go to the loo in peace! Eventually I went to my bedroom. I sat on the end of my bed; Zeus placed his head in my lap and looked up at me with sorrowful eyes. In exasperation, I said out loud, "Dad, if you are here, please don't scare my dog". In the space of a heartbeat, Zeus got up and marched out of the bedroom, back to the lounge. We never heard another peep from him all night, only the crunching of bones.

I do not recall my father ever visiting me before, except in dreams. But I would stake my life on it that he visited on his birthday.