Voice In The Night

As I write this I am sitting outside with Stanley.  It is 8pm and 102 degrees and HOT!  Stanley wants me out here with him...it makes him happy to have an audience as he chases the geckos.  Ahhhhh!, the things we do for our pets!

Now that I got that thought off of my chest, here goes the post.....

Before I go to bed each night I go through the same routine.  I check all of the doors and windows, I set the lights on dim and I set the house alarm.  We have a team of security guards that patrol our neighborhood but still I set my alarm.  At the end of the night, Stanley and I retire and lay our heads down to sleep.

My neighborhood is very quiet.  If there is any noise it is the ducks flying over or the sprinklers coming on.  It's sort of like "not a creature was stirring" kind of a neighborhood.  Before I got Stanley, I used to jog late at night or early morning.  Now, those days are gone...I have to go to the gym.  ha.

Last night (actually at 4am this morning), Stanley and I were sound asleep when I heard a faint voice.  Funny how you can be dead asleep but a soft sound can arouse you right out of the depths.  The voice was like a whisper and it was IN the house!  (Danger, danger Will Robinson!)  I heard it and on the one hand was awake and alert but on the other hand was still sound asleep.  It was weird.  I was waiting...would the voice speak again?  Stanley too flinched but he remained tucked under this blankie.  We both were in that foggy state of being awake but being asleep too.

Within 15 minutes, the voice spoke again!!!  OK, it is on!  Somehow, someone got inside my house without triggering the alarm!  Not only that...somehow, someone got passed the security guards!  Stanley rears up his head and manages to come out from underneath his blanket in 2 seconds flat.  Both he and I are on full alert and ready for action.

I have a silent alarm near my bed that has a separate line from the main house and I am about to trip the alarm.  That's one of the things I love about my neighborhood...the police don't play around.  They dispatch multiple cars whenever they are summoned and they respond lickety split.  Stanley let out a bark but I hushed him and, as if he knew my strategy, he quietened and stayed by my side.  As all of the adrenaline rushed throughout my body I was processing the voice while at the same time about to hit the silent alarm.  Before I pressed the button my mind caught up with my action and I realized the voice had just spoken, "low battery."  

Low battery?  LOW BATTERY?!!!!!  I've been home all night for hours and NOW you tell me at 4am that I have a low battery?  Where are you?....who has the low battery?  How can I have a low battery?...the technicians were here 4 months ago.  At this point I am very put out.  As I recall, the detection system beeps first for weeks before it starts speaking to you.  I have not been beeped at...there have been no beeps.  How can I be hearing this message now?

I get out of bed and walk throughout the house, listening for the voice again so that I can find the device with a "low battery."  Thirty minutes later, nothing.  The voice does not speak again and I have no explanation.  (Mental note:  call the service company to check the devices.)  How frustrating!  How am I supposed to get back to sleep when I have to wake up in only 2 hours?  I know how this story ends:  I am the one who will have the "low battery" today.

PS:  Stanley was an absolute trooper through it all.