It’s Not Always What It Seems (standard:humor, 900 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Jul 11 2020	Views/Reads: 1200/887	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
What we may think something is may not be exactly what it is. I need to rest my thoughts on God.

There are times when my bad hearing is a blessing. I'm not sure if I'm
not listening or not hearing. It's hard for me to tell. 

For example, the other night, right after midnight, the Gracious
Mistress of the Parsonage and I were pretty much sound asleep. There 
was more sound on the other side of the bed than on mine, but that's a 
different story. 

There was this tremendous boom, several flashes of lightning, and the
rooftop was bombarded with rain. It sounded like some invasion. 

I didn't hear it when it happened, but my wife shook me radically and
asked, “What's that noise?” 

Being the veteran husband that I am, I don't jump to an answer unless I
fully understand the question. In the middle of the night, there is no 
way I'm going to understand anything. That's just the way it is. 

Being in a groggier frame of mind more than usual, I asked, “What did
you say?” 

Then my wife went into this long explanation of the noise and the
lightning and the rain that woke her up. “What in the world is that?” 

From the tone of her voice, I was guessing she was confused as to the
sound outside. Of course, I did not hear the sound, and therefore I was 
not a witness or at least a reliable witness. 

I had two ways to approach this. First, she was setting me up for
something. Or, second, she didn't know what was happening outside. 

Correcting your wife or explaining something to your wife is hazardous
territory. 

“Oh, that's nothing,” I said as I was yawning. “Just go back to sleep.” 

And with that, I went back to sleep. Or I tried to. 

"No, no," she said. "Something's going on outside, and I'm not quite
sure what it is." 

About that time, the boom and the lightning and the rain exploded again
in our backyard. 

“See,” she said rather excitedly, “something's going on outside in the
backyard. I wonder if it's our neighbors with their firecrackers?” 

In the last few weeks, almost everybody in our neighborhood set off
firecrackers right after supper to nearly breakfast time. I never do 
that because I never like burning money. But some people get a thrill 
out of setting their money on fire and watching it explode in the air. 

I knew that the sound we just heard was not associated with any
firecrackers. And the lightning was not related to firecrackers either. 


I had a very naughty thought dance in my mind at that point—some things
I just can't refuse. 

We had been watching on the news the rioting and looting going on all
across our country. Most distressing as we watched it. 

I sat up in bed, listened very intently and then said, “I wonder if it's
a riot in our neighborhood.” 

Somebody's eyes, and they weren't on my face, widened as I've never seen
before. 

“Remember, we were watching that on the news before we went to bed last
night? They may have come to our neighborhood without us knowing it.” 

I'm from the country in Pennsylvania, and I know how to milk a cow. I
thought I would milk this cow as long as I could. 

She leaned over and whispered, “Do you think we ought to call the


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