Bedtime Tales

I had a habit of reading books before sleeping (in the blissful era minus my BF-no offence!) and during the school days Goosebumps & Fear Street were my favourite. Picture this-time somewhere about 2am. I am sleeping with the book in hand, nearing the point where the girl enters the attic. Suddenly the room erupts in raucous laughter. The room I am sleeping in.

My younger sister sleeping beside me has chosen that precise moment to laugh in her sleep. Making me jump nearly a foot into the air! Yes, these aren’t bedtime stories that I am going to narrate, rather these are stories that happened after the lights were switched off.

Some people blabber in their sleep but have you ever shared a bed with anyone who talks trigonometry in her sleep? I have. She had opened her eyes God knows when & suddenly I found her staring at me with a very serious expression reciting that tan x equals sin by cos! I nodded my head to show I agree & satisfied with that she closed her eyes again. The next morning she wouldn’t accept the fact that she had yet again unsuccessfully attempted to give me a heart attack.

And yet another time I could only look amazed at the figure sitting up straight on the bed, blinking her eyes & then standing up on the bed itself, completing a circle (just how dogs do before settling down. Offence meant) and then sleeping again. After she entered her teens, thankfully she took to humming Bollywood songs in her sleep.

As for me, I have been accused of smiling in my sleep. (I say accused ‘coz my smile appears to scare my family) I can attribute it to the fact that I mostly dream of having achieved unattainable things, like the time when I woke up searching desperately for the Harry Potter book that I had bought in my dream and then screaming the place down when I couldn’t find it.

Of all the bedtime nightmares I have gone through nothing beats this. As per my habit I was up late reading a novel, I think it was Charles Dickens collection of ghost stories. The door of my room was slightly ajar. It was all quiet when suddenly there was this really ominous moan ringing in the air. As if someone was in pain. And coincidentally the chapter I was reading was about the cruel old husband cursed by his lovely wife to die 12 times or something like that.

I strained my ears to listen well, which was difficult given the fact that I had taken shelter under the huge blanket. Only when the bed in the outer room creaked and the sound stopped momentarily did I realize it was my dear Grandma snoring away happily. Bless her!