“By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes…”
Quote by Shakespeare (Macbeth)


Last night, Earl and I were in the bathroom getting ready for bed, when I witnessed an unbelievable sight. I get chills even repeating what I saw…

Hundreds of red streaks drowning the whites of Earl's eyes. Both of his eyes.

I'm not exaggerating. It looked like someone had poured acid in his eyes. And the streaks were moving across each eye like waves of blood as I watched.

In the most freaked out voice I think I’ve ever had, I asked, “What the hellll is wrong with your eyes?!”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with them?” he replies.

I told him to look in the mirror.

We watched as the whites of Earl’s eyes swam in a sea of red, from corner to corner. To say the least, I was losing my cool. I didn’t know if I was witnessing a serious medical condition or a demonic possession.

Earl had no idea what was going on. And to make matters more stressful, I immediately started in with the questions: Does it hurt? Do your eyes burn? Do they itch? Did you touch something and then touch your face? Can you see? Did you poke yourself with a stick? Did you rub them? Did you rub them? Did you rub them?

I don’t know how many times I asked if he had rubbed his eyes but he finally had to take me by my shoulders and give me a good shake. “No! I did not rub them! I did not touch them! I didn’t do anything to them! And I can see fine. They don’t sting and they don’t hurt. I didn’t even know there was anything wrong with them!”

I knew if he had pink eye that it burn and itch. Or if only one eye was being affected, then at the very least, it wouldn’t be half as scary. But apparently, there was absolutely nothing going on discomfort wise and we had nothing to go on as to why it was happening.

That’s it, I said. Pack your bags babe, we’re going to the hospital. He looked at me with concern, and then again at himself in the mirror and blinked a few times. He rolled his eyes around in circles and blinked some more. It was like watching red clouds pass by a blue moon. Something was happening. We just had no idea what.

I wanted to high tail it to the ER, but as mysteriously as it came, it began to go away... In a few minutes, the red started to fade. "I think it's going away... What do you think? It looks better, right?" asked Earl. I nodded in agreement. Slowly, his eyes became somewhat bloodshot, then just a bit pink and finally, they just looked a little glassy - like the sky clearing after a storm. The whole thing had come and gone so quickly, so strangely; like something dropping us a quick hello, or perhaps even...

a brief but powerful message from beyond…

Whatever it was, we both looked at each other with the same thought - that was messed up right there.

Today his eyes look like nothing happened. Of course, I am nagging Earl to go get checked out anyway, but he’s a stubborn one. Doctors aren’t his thing. And when he feels fine, it’s even harder to get him to go.

We've had many things happen in our house that are unexplainable, but those are stories for yet another blog. So I leave you with this;

Either there are very good explanations for the strange things we’ve been experiencing lately, or the week of Halloween is waking up our house and we need an exorcist.

The week before All Hallow's Eve - and strange things are a brewing in the house of Bethlehem.

I awoke in the early a.m. to the sound of the alarm clock. As Earl's tired head still lay half asleep on his pillow, I reluctantly slid out of bed and found my balance. I looked to my feet to see my beloved bulldog Ozzy lying faithfully by my side of the bed. Only something is different about him...

Ozzy was wearing a T-shirt.

My first response was to tell Earl that although it's cute, the T-shirt is much too tight for Ozzy to lie comfortably in. And for God's sake, at least put his legs through the arm holes. I felt the collar of the shirt and realized just how tight it was around his neck. Again, I scolded Earl. He should never leave something like that over his head all night. Earl's response:

"What are you talking about?"

I hesitated at this, but then began undressing the dog. Not an easy task as the shirt was very tight. Ozzy's huge neck was completely through the neck hole and his poor legs were all tucked up inside. His body was cocooned inside the shirt and the way he just laid there helplessly reminded me of little lamb. Again, I said to Earl, "Honey, it's really tight. You can't leave him like this all night. Look, his legs are all tied up inside." Earl's response,

"Amy, I didn't do that."

I looked at him with disbelief. "Well how did he get like this? He couldn't have just fallen into the shirt. Look how perfectly he's wearing it, too. It's not twisted or anything. Like you put it on him on purpose... "

"Amy. Again. I... did... not... do... that."

I felt a funny metal taste in my mouth. I think they call that fear. I swallowed it down. "Okay, uh..." that's as far as I got with that sentence. I believed what Earl was telling me. Although he would dress the dog in a shirt or sweatshirt for laughs, he at least would have chosen a shirt that fits, he would have pulled the legs threw the arm holes, and he would have NEVER left it like that through the night. Earl's a cautious person and this was not a smart thing going on here.

I was still struggling to get Ozzy's body unwrapped. The poor dog was trying to get up but his legs were all folded up inside and he couldn't get them loose. He was looking at me like, Hey mom, this is really uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine how he got like this. The shirt was pulled perfectly over his body. It wasn't twisted at all like Ozzy had struggling to get in it, or for that matter, out of it. I had no idea if he had been like this all night, but if he had, his poor legs must have been so cramped.

Well, I got his legs out and pull it up over his tail and then his back. Then I gave it a good tug and freed his head. The amount of strength I had to use to get it over his head made me again wonder how he did this.

The only answer I could come up with was -

Ozzy didn't do it either.