Turmoil after Midnight

                                                                              Soo Yong Kim

   This year the heat was scorching day and night. The temperature was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. A few days ago, I opened the windows at night. It was so hot even though the electric fan was turned on. Usually, I don’t turn on the air-conditioner to save electric power.

   I was falling sound asleep and a strange noise woke me up by surprise. Maybe, I thought, a sudden shower hit the roof of patio deck. I looked out through the windows to know what was going on around my house. There was no shower at all and no strong wind either.

   I came out of my room and went to my back yard. I could see four boys on the sidewalk of the opposite road over the fence of my house. They were talking to each other and they were playing with their skate boards. When they were on their skate boards, they flew in the air. When they landed on sidewalk, they made loud big noises on their boards. They shouted at the same time. My neighbors were sleeping and there was not much traffic at 3 o’clock after midnight. They broke the silence in my neighborhood. I couldn’t tolerate them anymore. I shouted at them to stop their misdemeanor and nuisance. If I didn’t stop them, all my neighbors would wake up eventually.

   As soon as they heard my shouting, they kept quiet and whispered to one another. A few minutes later, they resumed their wrongdoing regardless of my warning. I was so mad at them. I warned them again, “If you don’t stop making noises, I will call the police and they will arrest you”. They stood motionless and I saw them over the fence.

   All of a sudden, they started running and disappeared in a twinkle. My lovely two pets slept with me on the bed and they woke up due to my shouting. They waited for me until I came back. They are very faithful animals.

   Even though they were juveniles, they should have behaved themselves not to interfere with neighbors’ sleeping as a courtesy and common sense. I tried to understand their situation. Maybe they couldn’t stand the heat and couldn’t sleep. Therefore, they wanted to play. I didn’t know the exact reason why they played together after midnight.

   After I patted my dogs and hugged them, I fell sound asleep again. I was thankful to my dogs as my body-guards. They want to protect me all the time. I seemed to hear Whitney Houston’s theme song “I Will Always Love You” from the movie ‘The Body Guard’. This song worked as a lullaby. I fell sound asleep with peace of mind from God. I gave thanks to God for everything!