An anecdote from this weekend
We went to Raun's house for his Christmas party. Because there were lots of people, Richard and I slept in the pop-up tent in the back garden.
I'll leave Algernon Blackwood to narrate the first part of the story, as he appears to have adequately covered it in 'The Willows.'
" I jumped up with a genuine start of terror. It was neither the wind nor the river that woke me,and I found myself sitting bolt upright-listening.
... I sat there nervously wide awake as though I had not slept at all. It seemed to me that my breathing came with difficulty, and that there was a great weight upon the surface of my body. In spite of the hot night, I felt clammy with cold and shivered. Something surely was pressing steadily against the sides of the tent and weighing down upon it from above. Was it the body of the wind? Was this the pattering rain, the dripping of the leaves? The spray blown from the river by the wind and gathering in big drops? I thought quickly of a dozen things."
Nope - it was just Raun's cat. She had climbed in between the layers of the pop-up tent, causing the roof to bow in so she was snoozing right above the hot water bottle he had kindly provided us with, creating a nylon kitty-hammock. I inadvertantly woke Richard because I was giggling so hard. The cat didn't seem to mind.
I'll leave Algernon Blackwood to narrate the first part of the story, as he appears to have adequately covered it in 'The Willows.'
" I jumped up with a genuine start of terror. It was neither the wind nor the river that woke me,and I found myself sitting bolt upright-listening.
... I sat there nervously wide awake as though I had not slept at all. It seemed to me that my breathing came with difficulty, and that there was a great weight upon the surface of my body. In spite of the hot night, I felt clammy with cold and shivered. Something surely was pressing steadily against the sides of the tent and weighing down upon it from above. Was it the body of the wind? Was this the pattering rain, the dripping of the leaves? The spray blown from the river by the wind and gathering in big drops? I thought quickly of a dozen things."
Nope - it was just Raun's cat. She had climbed in between the layers of the pop-up tent, causing the roof to bow in so she was snoozing right above the hot water bottle he had kindly provided us with, creating a nylon kitty-hammock. I inadvertantly woke Richard because I was giggling so hard. The cat didn't seem to mind.