Please Check Under My Bed....

On Saturday night, I was fast asleep at 11:30pm but was awakened by Stanley.  He was barking (a serious bark...not a "there's a squirrel outside" bark) and was focused on a corner of the bedroom.  Because he was not backing down but kept barking, I told myself that I needed to take this seriously.  I aroused myself and became somewhat conscious.  It was then that I realized that I had heard a noise...something similar to an animal squeezing between the wall and my armoire, in an attempt to hide.  The same armoire that Stanley was barking at.  "!!!!!!," said my head.

I then sat up in the bed and tried to subdue Stanley.  He quietened down and slightly shifted on the bed.   It was at that moment that the entire bed (a heavy bed and with me in it) started to shake and buck up, as if something was caught in the slats in the bed and was trying to free itself.  "Whaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....I'm freaking out," said my head now.

Stanley was over it.  He cowered down and crawled to my side.  I said a prayer and then had a stern talk with myself.  Are you going to sit here in this room and act like nothing happened....hoping the animal (or whatever) goes away?....or, Are you going to get out of this bed, put your feet on the floor (and risk "it" coming out) and take care of this?!  Well, I wasn't raised to be a coward and my courage began to rise.  I was going to take this on!

I scooped up Stanley in my arm, stepped off of the bed onto the floor and quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.  I hastened to the other bedroom and fully dressed, tennis shoes and all.  We walked downstairs and I called the neighborhood security force, who then called the police.  As I stood waiting for the police to arrive, I begin to pray.  Truly, I needed peace at that moment because being awakened out of my sleep like this was alarming.  Stanley was verrrryyyy close to me (oh, that sweet little doggie).

The police arrived (5 police cars....yes!) and I greeted the team in my garage.  As two police approached I made clear that it was someTHING in my bedroom, not someONE.  The policeman then announced, "We've had an earthquake.  Do you think this could be what caused your experience?"  Like a deer in headlights I stood there...everything in slow motion.  I blinked twice with a straight face and asked, "Would you still check under my bed?"

After a thorough and official police search of my house (thank you wonderful policemen), I was convinced that, yes, in fact it was the earthquake that caused my experience.  Whew.  Wait a minute.....I live in Texas.  We're not supposed to have earthquakes......!