SOUND OF FALL

I was sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, ready for a quiet evening at home. As I picked up the television remote, ready to scroll through the channels, I heard the chirp of a cricket.

Looking over at the window I could see it was closed.

“Oh, great.” I sighed as I put the remote down. “It’s in the house.” I got up to begin my search.

Standing in the middle of the living room, patiently waiting for it to chirp again, my son Alex came into the room.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

I quickly pressed my pointer finger up to my lips. “Waiting.” I whispered.

“Waiting for what?” Alex whispered back.

“CHIRP” called the cricket.

“That!” I cried as I headed to the stairs leading down to the guest bedroom.

“Wait!” Alex called. “I’m pretty sure it came from that direction!” Alex was pointing in the opposite direction that I was headed.

“Seriously?” I looked back to where I’d been headed. “I’m almost positive it was coming from down here.”

“I don’t know.” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I could be wrong.”

“How about you stand there and I’ll stand here and we’ll wait for it to chirp again?”

“I can for a minute.” He looked at his watch. “But I have to finish an email for work.”

“It shouldn’t be long.” I quickly crossed my fingers for extra luck.

We both stood quietly, waiting.

“Oh for the love of…” I sighed. “This feels exactly like the which-smoke-alarm-needs-a-new-battery game!”

“CHIRP!”

I quickly looked at Alex. “Well?”

“I’m not sure.” He shrugged his shoulders again.

I tilted my head back and sighed again. “This is going to take forever!” I cried.

“Not for me, it isn’t.” Alex said as he headed back to his room. “I really need to get that email out.”

“Oh, sure!” I called to him. “Abandon me!”

“You’ll find him!” He called back. “I have faith in you!”

I stood in the hallway, my hands on my hips. “Okay, little fella. One more time.” I said under my breath.

“CHIRP.”

I looked past the guest room and down the stairs that headed to the basement. “Great. Now you sound like you’re down there.”

I walked downstairs and looked in the laundry room, pantry, bathroom and my husband Steven’s office.

“Let’s try this one more time.” I called.

But after several minutes of waiting and only hearing silence I realized my little friend must have decided to stop for the night.

“Well, I guess it’s to be continued.” I went back to the living room, sat down on the couch and picked up the remote again. Just as I clicked on the television…

“CHIRP.”

“NOPE!” I called as I turned the volume up so I couldn’t hear anymore chirping. “I’m done playing for tonight!”