Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Toy Story (original post date May 9, 2008)









Date: May 9, 2008
Time: 12: 40 AM to 1:58 AM

This entire night played out like a scary movie.

As usual, I sat out to shut up the dog that occupies the backyard behind my house. I opened my window to stick my head out and I shouted "Shut up!" twice. I grabbed my flashlight and shinned it on him for awhile just to mess with him. I then shook the flashlight back and forth on the house just for amusement and shortly after I was done with that, I shined the light in my backyard. The Arizona nights in Maricopa are pitch black. There is only one street light assigned to every street and every so often the light is off more often than on. Most people opt for leaving their back porch lights on but it doesn't do much. The lack of light makes for a brighter night sky. The shine shines 100% brighter than Michigan's. The moon itself has a bold presents of its own. The ambient glow is so beautiful and is considered romantic. Well, in my opinion anyway.  After I was done shining the light in our yard I proceed to shut my window. As I slid the window down slowly I noticed a bright yellow light flashing on and off repetitively back up at me from the back of the yard in the corner of my left eye. I did a double take and said to myself "Did I just see that?" I sat on my floor frightened and anxiously awaiting for the light to shine again. I quickly grabbed my flashlight and shinned the light in our backyard again to see where it was coming from.

My 5 year old cousin, Terrell, has a scooter that he used to use to scoot around on at the Woodberry house in Michigan. This scooter plays two songs. Do you know the Muffin Man? and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Since we've been in Arizona Terrell doesn't pay much attention to it anymore. It's been sitting in the backyard for the past four months getting moved around from here to there. For the past week or so the scooter has been in the rear of the yard. I shined my light on it and the light started blinking on and off repetitively just like it has a few seconds before. In unison with the light I heard a soft Caucasian woman's voice singing "Do you know the Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? Do you know the Muffin Man who lives on Drury Lane?” I started to freak out as most would in my situation. I thought to myself "I know nobody's out here" and I proceed to shine the light like I was looking for a convict that had just escaped from prison. In my prison search, I stumbled upon a trail of water adjacent to the concrete slabs that's considered a porch. The water was sandwiched between the decorative concrete blocks that surrounds the little grass that we have and the concrete slabs. The water measured about a yard wide and I was curious to know where it came from or more so, who left it there. After the song ended and the flashing cartoonish light stopped flashing from the front of the scooter, the music and lights started going at it again. This happened about four more times in a two minute period. My stomach was in knots and I was in disbelief.

In my room I had the television on and I also had my night light on. On my night stand the night light is made to look like a miniature full sized lamp. The shade is black and the stand is chrome and on the inside is a idy bidy 25 Watt light bulb. It's so cute. Anyways, I sat on my bed trying to watch T.V. to get my mind off of what I had just witnessed but I couldn't focus because I was so scared. I have two windows in my room. The first on the right side of the room where I was previously and approximately seven feet to the left is where my bed stood, in front of the second window. Every few seconds I peeped out the window to see what the scooter was up to. I did this for about five minutes until I seen the light again. I thought to myself "If I was on the phone with, Kurtis, I wouldn't be goin' through this right now." But all I could do was try to keep my sanity.   

I picked up my phone and called the first person that popped in my head, my cousin Shavonne (Terrell 's mother) I told her about my dilemma and she proceed to tell me "Oh girl, why did you  have to call me? I was sleepin' down here in living room. I'm by myself in the dark and now I have to walk upstairs in this creepy house to go to bed. Now that you told me that I won't be able to sleep." I laughed at her because her house has a life of its own after dark. She testified to it herself. And, I believed her. I told her that I wasn't gonna go through this by myself. Then she said "It might be the batteries dying or it might have got wet with the sprinklers" In return I said "I don't know" phrasing it as a question. Then she started talking about her older son, A.J's, Bug's Life interactive toys that started talking to each other back in 2001 when she stayed in her apartment. After she told me the story, I was like "Ok it might be the batteries" but I wasn't convinced. Then I told her to explain the trail of water leading to nowhere. I started to scare her because I reminded her that we're surrounded by the Indian Reserve.

After the conversation, I realized, forty-five minutes had passed since the first incident. I worked up the courage to get the thing out from the backyard myself because the last thing I wanted to do was hear the Muffin Man going on and off as I was trying to get some shut eye. I jumped out of bed and landed in my clean white Air Force Ones. I grabbed my flashlight and I proceeded to walk out of my room. Just before I left out my room I turned on my three way, 50/100/150 Watt light, for added insurance. As I was walking through the loft I got that feeling that someone was walking behind me. Going down the stairs I thought to myself "I'll be fine. If anything goes wrong I'll just scream." Once I got to the back door I got this eerie feeling coming from the backyard. As I was opening the blinds I whispered to myself "Why am I scared? I'm fearless. I've always been the fearless one." I flicked on the back light and I slowly slid open the door. (F.Y.I, I gave my pup, Max, to Animal Control because he bit down on my right hand two weeks ago. He was getting out of control and I wasn't having that. So, he won't be featured in today's blog.) 

I flashed the light all over the backyard a few more times before I made any attempts on leaving the back door. Being on the ground gave me a closer look at the water line. The isolated trail didn't make any sense to me, but I kept pressing on. I walked slowly towards the toy scooter looking over my shoulders and keeping the flashlight flashing in the dark spots. I was about two feet away from the toy when I thought "Now watch this stupid thing go off as soon as I pick it up." Right after I completed my thought the scooter started playing its tune "Do you know the Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? Do you know the Muffin Man who lives on Drury Lane?" and the light started flashing in unison. Mind you, this scooter is loud. I screamed as loud as I could being caught off guard but I stopped short. I could have sworn I heard voices coming from the back corners of the backyard as well which gave me more motivation to scream as crazy as I did. On the other side of the grey brick wall I heard the dog going bizerk. I scared him more than the scooter scared me. I started laughing my little butt off because there I was trying to be the hero and I was scared out of my wits. I looked around to see if Nana or Sylvester heard me but no one came to my rescue. So long for my "If anything goes wrong I'll just scream" theory. No one responded but the dog I've been going at it with for the past three months. 

I picked up the toy by the steering wheel laughing historically making my way through the darkness that was leading to the side of the house. I got the blue recycling bin and I placed it on the top of the lid. My common sense caught up with me and said "If this thing happened to go off again the music will eco and wake up Nana and Sylvester." Since their room is on the ground floor on this side of the house I had a better idea. "Tomorrow is Trash Day, so I'll go set it out on the brown trash can that's already out on the curb" I logically thought to myself. I had been literally scared the entire time and I hurried up and grabbed the scooter and tried to open the six foot backyard door as quick as I could but the latch wasn't giving in and I struggled for a good five seconds. Those where the longest five seconds of my young adult life. I was terrified that the scooter would start singing again. Finally, I got it open and I walked to the trash can as fast as I could.

When I got back in my room I started to play Mario 3 (Yes! on THEE original NES), to distract me from the recent night's event. I got a text from Shavonne "Thanks! Now that stupid song is stuck in my head." I chuckled and responded "Well now my nerves are bad. I went out there and that stupid thing started playing when I was just about to pick it up and I screamed bloody hell. I scared the dog and I couldn't stop laughing. I took that thing out to the curb so fast!" A few minutes later she responded "Lol! ..OMG..!" Then I quickly replied "Not only that, but it sounded like I heard people talkin' in the shadows before I realized it was the toy. It was horrible." I could only imagine what Shavonn was picturing and she replied "See! That's why I don't watch scary movies" and I replied "I felt like I was in one!" The last text was "Lol!!!" and it was from her. People always find humor in my vulnerability. After about fifteen minutes I walked away from the game because I felt that I was distracted enough to go to sleep. Little did I know what that future held.

...For the first time in fifteen years...
...I slept with my night light on...
    

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