Phonophobia: A True Short Story about Scary Noises, Fear, and a Tornado In Kansas
My daughter wakes me from my nap with screaming from her bedroom: "Scary! Scary!"
I rush in. "What's wrong!"
"I hear noises!" she says.
I ask, "What noises?"
She makes deep, heaving, guttural sounds. I lie down next to her and quietly shush her, then listen intently for what I suspect to be the usual plumbing sounds from our three-story condo building, or maybe traffic or animal sounds from outside her window.
I hear many sounds, but it's not until she repeats her asthmatic, Darth Vader-like tones that I realize that she is imitating me snoring. I am the one who was making the scary breathing noises.
"You were making the noises, Daddy?"
"Yes, I was snoring."
"Haha, you're silly, Daddy. Please don't make those noises again."
"Ok, honey. I won't. Sweet dreams."
So now I'm wondering if Uncle Henry is to blame for Dorothy's phobia of lions, tigers, and bears. Poor Dorothy, night after night cowering under her covers fretting about scary, beastly breathing noises echoing through the walls, and Uncle Henry obliviously snoring up a storm. Oh my.
I rush in. "What's wrong!"
"I hear noises!" she says.
I ask, "What noises?"
She makes deep, heaving, guttural sounds. I lie down next to her and quietly shush her, then listen intently for what I suspect to be the usual plumbing sounds from our three-story condo building, or maybe traffic or animal sounds from outside her window.
I hear many sounds, but it's not until she repeats her asthmatic, Darth Vader-like tones that I realize that she is imitating me snoring. I am the one who was making the scary breathing noises.
"You were making the noises, Daddy?"
"Yes, I was snoring."
"Haha, you're silly, Daddy. Please don't make those noises again."
"Ok, honey. I won't. Sweet dreams."
So now I'm wondering if Uncle Henry is to blame for Dorothy's phobia of lions, tigers, and bears. Poor Dorothy, night after night cowering under her covers fretting about scary, beastly breathing noises echoing through the walls, and Uncle Henry obliviously snoring up a storm. Oh my.
