Message Received

The evening the kids left for Dillon Beach, I retired early, settling down in bed at seven with a book and my bad cold. I left Bill and the puppy in the front room watching TV. Tad and Erin departed at three that morning, saying they hoped to get as far as Bakersfield or Los Banos to spend the night before going on to Dillon Beach the next day. (It's a sixteen to eighteen hour drive from here to the beach, for those that don't know. One extra long day in the car.) Erin promised she'd call when they got home, so I wasn't expecting a call that evening.

Earlier in the week, Bill had changed the ringtone on his cell phone. All summer long he's been having "In The Summertime" playing whenever someone calls in. But this week, he'd gone through a lengthy process and was having it play Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldiers". I guess because it put us in the mood of Caribbean vacations. We've always taken our trips in October and November and even though we're not traveling this year, it's that right time to do it, you know?

Okay, so now I've set the scene for you: I'm in the far bedroom down the hall dozing over my book (it's real boring and I should just put it down and start something else, but I'm determined in my old age to finish every book I start - something I never did when I was younger and working) and Bill and Chuy are in the front room watching C.S.I. when all of a sudden, the television and satellite go blank. Bill looks at the TV wondering what happened when the stereo next to his couch lights up and the song "Buffalo Soldiers" wafts out. The song plays a few bars and Bob Marley's voice fills the room when just as suddenly, it turns off and the TV magically comes back on with Bill's show on it.

Bill came in to tell me about it. "You're not going to believe this..." He told me the story.

"Was it a message from your dad?" I asked. Whenever we experience unexplained electrical disturbances we tend to think it's a Sign from the Other Side that our loved ones are trying to get us a message.

"If it was, I don't know what They're trying to say," Bill shrugged. "That They're aware I changed my ring tone? Why should that matter?"

"I don't know either." But I shivered. His story was "cweepin' me out!" as Sage would say.

Not ten minutes later, the land line phone rang. It was Erin. She sounded exhausted but happy. Tad had driven them home in one fell swoop. They'd been home for an hour or so but she wanted me to know they were fine.

I hung up, considering. Was Bill's message from his dad who wanted Bill to know Tad had arrived home safely? It was one way of getting us to take notice. Or was it just one of those unexplainable Freaky Things that happen now and then? But why "Buffalo Soldiers"? I prefer to think we had a Sign from the Other Side.