b Papa Dog's Blog: I Know an Old Lady on the Ceiling

Papa Dog's Blog

A Thing Wherein I Infrequently Write Some Stuff

Monday, February 27, 2006

I Know an Old Lady on the Ceiling

Baby Dog’s latest thing is a bit of a conundrum. A few days ago, she started saying, “Look at I know an old lady?” Ordinarily, I would take this to mean her battered Scholastic Books paperback version of the timeless class of crittercide, but she would then add the modified, “On the ceiling?” Moreover, she would say this when wandering into her room, having left the book in the living room. I established pretty quickly that she wasn’t talking about the book. There was some “I know an old lady on the ceiling” that she wanted to see.

Of course, my thoughts turned to the occult. Our predecessor in this house was an old lady who may or may not have died on the premises. Since we moved in here, I’ve made a habit of explaining any unexplained phenomena by reference to the shade of old Mrs. Jefferson. When the Whippet’s whippets barked for no apparent reason at the poster of Gilbert and George, I said, “Oh, that’s just Mrs. Jefferson’s ghost.” When the baby gate closed by itself three times in a row, I exclaimed, “Cut it out, Mrs. Jefferson!” If there was an old lady floating on Baby Dog’s ceiling, the only reasonable explanation seemed to be the late Mrs. Jefferson.

Halmonie came up with another one, though; over the armoire, the tabletop lamp throws a shadow that looks (if you use a little imagination) like the book’s Old Lady in profile. This is not at all without precedent. As I think I’ve mentioned before there are swirly burl shapes on the doors of the armoire that Baby Dog long ago decided were a doggie face. She could certainly see the face of the Old Lady in a shadow. I suppose that’s better than assuming her room is haunted, but Mrs. Jefferson was by all accounts a very nice old lady.

2 Comments:

Blogger Tarz said...

I'll bet Baby Dog would love Balinese shadow puppet theatre... we should take her to such a happening next time there is one.

8:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe Baby Dog saw a fly on the ceiling?

10:45 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home