Goodnight Noises Everywhere

On Thursday night I am driving home from work when I turn onto a dark road. The road after that one is dark as well and I see the source of the blackout is a tree that hit a telephone pole. Just down the road is the town line and the streets behind it are lit up again. I conclude that it is a windy night, judging from a neighbor’s small tree blown over in their front yard.

Upon my arrival home I recount my tale of fallen trees to Bob, who in turn informs me that our tree in the back yard is now leaning up against the house. It’s a very windy night indeed. There are a few branches in the front yard that I offer to pick up while Matt naps the next day, and before we drift off into sleep we joke that I will also pick up the tree in the backyard.

Crack! Ten minutes later we are peering out Matthew’s bedroom window into the front lawn. A larger branch has fallen from the tree. This worries Bob more than me. He thinks we should evacuate to the basement, whereas I think the worse is already over. We return to bed or in Bob’s case pacing in a worried way and looking out the windows.

“The power just went out!” Bob awakes me at some hour later.

Crack! Crack! Crack! At three thirty in the morning Bob and I stare into the darkness listening to trees snap and fall in the woods behind our house.

“What is happening out there?” I ask him.

“I don’t know,” he replies. The trees around our house have already fallen so there is no longer a need to talk about whether or not we should relocate to the basement.

At seven in the morning I am awaken by Matthew cheerfully babbling and trying to climb onto the bed. “Did you hear all the trees fall down in the middle of the night?” I ask scooping him up and carrying him towards the kitchen to make him some breakfast.

Bob is in the kitchen and on the phone. “You aren’t going to work today are you?” I ask him, “I bet the roads are icy.” I glance outside and get my answer right away.

All over the street and in the yards are fallen icy limbs from trees. The ones that stayed upright are weighed towards the ground with frozen water. The power line is down at the end of the street and there is a tree sticking out of a neighbor’s rooftop. Bob and I take turns staying inside with Matthew and walking around to survey the neighborhood and commiserate with neighbors. Outside looks as though the Once-ler came to town.

At night, still without electricity or heat, which will be days not hours before it is turned on again, we camp out in the basement room, the only room with heat thanks to the propane fireplace that was installed just one month ago. Feeling cozy, I read to Matthew his newest bedtime favorite, the classic Goodnight Moon by battery powered lantern light before tucking him for the night into his pack n play. He does not like this new sleeping arrangement and begins to wail, making it not so cozy anymore.

“If I had to choose anyone to be in a dark room with a screeching one-year-old after an ice storm it would still be you,” I tell Bob who is lying on the floor with our bed comforter wrapped around him like a sleeping bag.

“What?” he can’t hear me over Matthew.

So I tell him again but louder.