Author: Edward Guenther

Uploaded: November 11th, 2011

The old house we lived in didn’t really have any hallways. One room was connected to another by a doorway and there was a steep enclosed stairway in the middle of the house. There were four bedrooms downstairs and two upstairs. The downstairs rooms formed something of a circle circumscribing the stairs and you could walk “around the rooms.”

The “around the rooms” made an ideal place for dart gun fights. I figured next to Matt Dillon I was about the fastest draw and sharpest shooter. Sometimes the rubber tips would come off those darts and they were like real weapons. If you got one of those in the eye… goodnight! But we weren’t allowed to use darts without tips, except sometimes by accidents…

Now those stairs were steep, maybe a 45 degree angle, and we kids used to get the piano bench cover and slider down the carpeted stairs. Wow, it was fast! We weren’t supposed to do it though, and I suppose after awhile the hinges on the cover got lost. Dad didn’t like it when we lost or broke things that had a connection to his repair abilities. Mostly nothing ever got repaired, or the thing would end up with strips from rubber tubes binding them together.

However, I’m getting off the track of this story. This is about my sister Annie and her sleep walking and talking. Davy and I occupied the upstairs bedroom furthest from the stairway, which meant we had to go though Annie and Anjo’s bedroom. They were my older twin sisters. As far as I know, snoring wasn’t a major problem or theirs. Their bedroom had a window that would actually open! It had been painted shut like most old windows, but my brothers and I used our pocketknives to whittle around the edges to get it so it would force open. You could sneak out that window onto a low, flat roof and d then shinny down the silver leaf maple tree. I didn’t know it at the time but I think we were the reason Dad was always up there with a bucket of tar. Another reason might have been the fact that he had roofed it himself.

Well, anyway, one night late I tiptoed up those squeaky stairs and was working my way through the girls’ room when suddenly, shockingly, Annie sat bolt upright in her bed and intensely stated, “who are you?” At that frightful moment I don’t think I knew who I was! However, Annie just lay back down and made no response when I said, teeth chattering, “Are you awake, Annie?”

This was Annie’s way but it always caught you off guard in those late hours. Another time, my brothers and I were up until past midnight watching “Call of the Wild” when suddenly the stairs started creaking. I don’t know what it was but night always bothered me in that old house, being isolated in the country like we were. It was even rumored that ”Uncle George” lived in the attic. I didn’t know for sure because I never went there. The stairway door pushed open and there was Annie, moving across the room like a shadow. She disappeared in the direction of the bathroom. Two advertisements or so later there was a general concern of why Annie didn’t come out. Upon investigation, she was found fully clothed sitting in the bathtub! Later on, she was observed heading back up the stairs in a trance-like state. I sure wished I could have done that.