Haunted

I like quiet.

You might not think so because I usually have the TV on as background sound. 

Mostly the Weather Network playing quietly.

I do like loud music. Any kind of music as long as it is Rock. 

To quote someone’s photoshopped poster of the Dos Equis guy,

“I don’t always listen to Lynyard Skynyard, but when I do, so do my neighbors”.

But I do really like quiet.

Recently I was sitting listening to the wood crackling in the wood stove, the cat snoring, the wind blowing in off the frozen lake.
It was -41C or -41.8F with a wind chill of -51C  or -59.8F.

The sun was streaming in through the windows.
Unlike Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", it was not a midnight dreary, so I was surprised that the haunting started.

Dong dong dong dong.

It was like an old time sailing ship’s bell sounding out on the water.

It stopped.

It started again a few minutes later, and stopped.

This happened on and off for a while and I started to wonder if it was some emergency warning system on the TV.

I turned off the TV. *

Dong dong dong dong.

My cell phone beeps and bops at me regularly so I turned it off.

Dong dong dong dong.

I unplugged the DVD, cable box and microwave oven.

Dong dong dong dong.

I started for the router and modem when it happened again.

Dong dong dong dong.

The ghostly bell was tolling behind me. In my bedroom!

My mind felt some measure of relief as I remembered that I kept old cell phones in a drawer, as you do. It was probably an old reminder chiming on one of them.

I looked. All of them had absolutely no battery life.

Dread crept back into my mind as I imagined unnamed spirits returning to this plane. What could they want with me?

Dong dong dong dong.

I jumped and turned all in one motion ready to vamoose.

Then I saw it.

My old Blackberry tablet that I use as an MP3 player.
Apparently it has a low battery alarm. Dong dong dong dong.

Your old technology will return to haunt you when you least expect it.**

At least it won't molt.

*   my wife once turned off our old TV. It never turned on again. I don’t like to take the chance.

** not that you would expect to be haunted, would you?

You might want to buy US postage so in keeping with the bird theme...

 

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