Jennifer's Joyous Journal

Childhood Memory

My brother called me last night to ask about something that happened when we were children and living in Gregory Portland, Texas...

One dark and stormy night (yeah, it's a cliche, but it fits), we three kids were watching television in our living room. I can't remember what we were watching, but I get the feeling it was a scary or suspenseful made-for-tv movie. I'm not sure where Mom was, but I do remember that Dad was on the phone in their bedroom. A really good storm was cooking outside - you know the kind that are really thrilling, but also kinda scary...especially when you're 7-8 years old (me & Meredith) or 3 years old (Danny).

Our house on Amistad faced a huge, empty circular park where we would occasionally play on the lone jungle gym or t-ball with the neighbors at the backstop. The backyard shared a common fence with the neighbor behind us. Suddenly, amidst the flashes of lightening lighting up our rear picture window, a strange, pulsing light appeared. It was obviously nothing related to the storm and it kinda freaked us out. I think we tried to talk to Dad about it, but he was on the phone and couldn't/wouldn't be bothered. So, we would continue to watch television, but we would put our backs to the window and slouch real low on the chair/couch. It was the old "if I pretend I don't see it, it will go away" logic mixed with an "if I can't see it, it's not there" attitude. That worked for maybe 5 minutes, when suddenly (and I'm almost positive this happened at a particularly tense place in our movie), the rear picture window practically exploded inward! PANIC! We ran screaming to Dad's bedroom...scared, but also with a "we told you something was up" demeanor - vindicated once again in our knowledge that yes we did know everything...

When Danny called last night to ask me about this incident, he was sure (or really hoping) that it had something to do with aliens. Sadly, from what I remember, the backyard neighbor had a sick child, no phones, and an out-of-town husband and was trying to get someone to help her deal. She originally tried to get our attention by flashing a flash light at us over the fence. When that didn't work, she started throwing rocks at the window, but the storm made it hard for us to hear them. She finally threw a really big rock, probably with more force than she intended. She got our attention alright! I'm pretty sure Dad would have helped her out, but I don't remember the whole process of getting the window fixed.

Thanks to Daniel for making me remember this incident. Meredith, Mom, Dad, I would love to hear what you remember about it.