We Still Don't Know

     It was 5:30 in the morning when we heard it.  We opened our eyes at the same time and my husband said in a sleepy voice, "What was that?"  I did not know, but hearing strange noises in this house is far from uncommon.

     This house we call home is one of four homes built with the same basic floor plan and all were constructed by the same man. His name was Robert Hall, but we have always called him Fred.

     The legend of Mr. Hall says that he crossed the great divide between this dimension and the next in this house.  For as long as I can remember, there have been doors open and close, footsteps in the hallway and other unexplained things that go bump in the night.  Just last week I walked into my studio, previously a daughter's bedroom, and found both radio speakers laying on the floor.  The speakers had set in the same place for months, perhaps Fred does not like my choice of music.

     I've lived in this house for most of my life, other than a few years of sowing wild oats, and I have grown up knowing about Fred.  A couple of months ago, as I was going down the basement stairs, something caught my eye.  On the wall, written with what appears to have been a nail or an awl, was something I had never noticed.  A name and a date.  Robert Hall Nov. 5, 1921.  I would hate to venture a guess as to how many times I have been up and down the basement stairs but I'm sure it would total somewhere in the thousands.  How in the world had I not seen this before?  

     The early morning noise sounded like someone was dragging a chair across the back deck.  Since I was wide awake, I got up and started the investigation.  Nothing in the upstairs hallway seemed out of kelter, so I headed down to the kitchen.  While my tea was brewing, I peeked out the back door and everything seemed in order there.

     I always..... always.... go out the back door with my first cup of tea.  But this morning the Voice, that lives in my head, told me to go to the front porch, on the south side.  Since I have been paying better attention to the Voice, that is what I did.  I opened the door, stepped out on the porch and there was the culprit of the early morning ruckus.  The large maple tree, in my neighbor's front yard, heavy with days of rain, had split in half.  Its once lofty boughs were now laying in my yard.  Mystery solved.

     It may not answer the question about when a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a noise, but it will wake you up.