The Blink in The Land of the Leafless TreessteemCreated with Sketch.

in #life5 years ago

I awoke at the top of The Land of the Leafless Trees. The branches of what had been summer trees stood naked and spread eagle, unashamed, everywhere. Cold mist blasted against my cheeks. I looked out at the expanse of two states that divided me from home. And that was all fine and well, but I blinked. It was the blink that comes of a night not snug and cozy next to the fireplace on a snowy evening as outlined in various Christmas carols.

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Floridians don’t own northern appropriate winter clothing for travel in The Land of the Leafless Trees. I don’t even own very many long sleeve shirts. I bought boots. Oh the splendor of walking through puddles in waterproof boots. I’m sure these things would be lovely should that mysterious white substance fall from the sky. Thus far it has not. I get the feeling it isn’t going to while I am here, and then I am going to scoff at the idea as I drive away in flip flops. The mysterious white substance will be nothing more than a myth. Snow, and Big Foot—I haven’t actually seen either.

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But this story isn’t about whether or not snow actually exists. This is about The Blink.

So, up the mountain, in a cabin in the woods, I awoke in The Land of the Leafless Trees. And inside that cabin my wee family agreed to share one room. And one bed. Have you ever slept in the same bed as an octopus? That’s what I did.

Small children transform into other entities in the darkness of night. Instead of the cute little chubby-cheeked children you put to bed, they morph into one large eight limbed cephalopod. It tangles around you all night long like it is trying to decide the best way to attach its suckers all over you and slowly inch you toward its mouth. One minute it is at the foot of the bed; the next it is at the pillows. One moment it is leaning off the bed, the next it is spread out in the middle.

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After several hours of almost being consumed by the octopus, my stomach awoke at about four AM and it said: “What the hell did you eat last night? It was food with preservatives, wasn’t it? Fast food maybe? You know that garbage gives us sour stomach!” And it proceeded to create a knot of pain in my midsection.

And then the octopus tried to wrap its suckers around my legs. It seemed that we were particularly tangled, and I didn’t want to take any chances on being eaten, so I climbed out of bed. I paced a bit, while my stomach acted as though it was eating itself. I returned to bed and the octopus tried to eat me again. After another thirty minutes I was resolved: Take what you will, octopus and stomach! I dropped my arms limply out sideways.

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And then an eerie sound came from the distance. In my exhausted state, I couldn’t quite make it out. It sounded like a ghost moaning pitifully “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” And on and on, in a rhythm with about three seconds between each word. A never-ending chant. Clearly it was not coming from either of my octopus transformed children, but no mother can tolerate the sound of a child calling out for help. I sat up and zeroed in on the sound.

You see, my husband gave up long before I did in the night. He decided sleeping with an octopus just wasn’t worth it. He had spread out a sleeping bag on the floor, conveniently right next to the heater, and had been sleeping like a non-octopus baby for the last six hours. But suddenly, for unexplained reasons, his nose took to whistling what sounded like the motherhood version of a siren song. One breath in and there was silence; one breath out and there was the ghostly call of “mom!” It was freaky, or maybe I was excessively tired and beyond rational thought. It doesn’t matter.

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I threw a bean stuffed toy koala off the bed blindly into the darkness on the floor, my arm following the tune of the nose whistler like a missile—and I hit my target.

There was a snorting sound, like maybe a bit of koala fluff had been inhaled? Then there was a snuffling sound, a tossing sound, and then sweet, beautiful silence. It was as though the octopus had somehow observed my expert aim and recognized me as a threat. The octopus lay still. The sound of the heater hummed gently, and I realized my stomach had either already consumed itself, or it too was taking a nap.

I let out a deep, satisfied sigh, I closed my eyes and—

Nothing happened. Sleep had abandoned me along with the nose whistle. I was left with nothing but The Blink.

And it is still with me right now, here at the top of the mountain in The Land of the Leafless Trees.

But tonight the octopus sleeps on the floor, and the I will be heavily armed in koala missiles.

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Ah yes, the old inhaled-koala-fluff snorting issue...Not life-threatening, but not pleasant either. The cure, don't have koalas inside...Simple. Can't help you with the blink though.

I think the cure may be having a wife that will hurl things at you. :) Truth be told I didn't think I would actually hit him, and then had to stiffle my laughter to avoid him fully waking.

Haha...Well, you must have a good arm and better aim than you realised. Did he work out that that's what happened later or did you just tell him?

Shh! He still doesn't know ;)

Sneaky girl!

Ah the octopus, every single night it gets me!

It just doesn't make any sense. Why would a human of any size be that active while sleeping? And why must they combine their efforts by turning into a ball of 8 limbs? We probably will not know how to sleep without being attacked all night when the time comes.

The thing that gets me also is the head grinding. My daughter insists on pushing her head against mine and short of grinding it against it. It's bloody awful!!

Lol. That sounds intense. My daughter grinds her teeth next to my ear. Different grinding, equally horrid.

Aaaghh. That sounds awful. I can't stand bone grinding types of noises!!

Sleeping with my children has never been a happy sleeping one for me either. Sleep is impossible. But the cabin looked a lot of fun.

It was lots of fun. Nothing quite like hiking to the top of a mountain and looking down like an angel in heaven. Fortunately the sleeping arraignments improved after the first night.

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Fun ! Fun !

Love the photo of the tree with curling bark. Also the photo out the rustic looking window.

Never ever seen snow??? Amazing ! It's beautiful, at least too look at. :)

Once many years back, I took care of one of my friend's little daughter while she went "out". She did not show back up at the agreed upon time and I had to work the next morning, so her daughter and I went to bed. OMGoodness! She moved around so much, I am not sure how that would be considered rest and like someone else said, even though it was a queen sized bed and there were plenty of pillows, she somehow kept getting over on my pillow, pushing her head against mine.... and not gently either. So much for that idea ! LOL !

Ha, yes, it seems that little kids are universally impossible to sleep next to. My little one is sick right now, and I always keep them close while sick. So now we can add super hot feverishness to the list of difficult things to sleep next to.

I have seen a tini bit of snow falling, and now have played in man made snow at a resort, so that is progress I suppose.

lol...so funny ginnyannette! And so brilliantly written. Where was that anyway?

This was North Carolina. The closest reasonable chance at snowy mountains. It did finally do a dusting of snow the day we left.

I thought Georgia had mountains with some snow but then I haven't really researched the subject!

I have been to the Blue Ridge Mountains, but I am of the impression it is less likely to snow there. I could be wrong, I didn't plan the vacation.

You didn't plan the vacation, it was one of those things that happened by accident? I wish I could have an accidental vacation in the mountains!

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