Silliness Makes Life Fun

Midnight Symphony

"Alec, hurry up. We are late," shouted my mother.

We are all going on a trip to our grandfather's house. The entire extended family was invited and all of them are turning up.

I don't know any of them!!

It's going to be such a pain. At least, the elders know each other. Who do we, kids know? Whom do we play with? 

The aunties and uncles are going to be reminiscing about how they saw last saw us when we were babies and I'm a 100% sure that I'm not going to recognize them. So awkward and boring!

I should probably be glad that Sarah and John are coming. They are my first cousins and the only two kids I know in this entire debacle. They are babies though. Sarah is just eight and John is thirteen.

***

Anyway, after a long four-hour drive, we reach our grandfather's house. It's a huge, old, dilapidated structure that has around twelve rooms. Yet, there isn't enough room for the 100+ family members whom my grandpa invited.

We drive into the huge yard in front of the house and there are already ten cars parked. Grandpa is sitting on a huge rocking chair with a pipe in one hand and a coffee mug in another. He's wearing shorts and with his legs spread wide apart, looks like a king sitting on his throne. 

"Hahaha Hahaha," laughs my grandpa. 

"Why are you late? Everyone else is already here," he shouts at the top of his voice.

My mother grimaces and doesn't respond as we make our way inside.

Woah! What a ruckus! I think my classroom is quieter.

The kids are screaming and running around. The adults are talking so loudly that nothing can be heard clearly over the pandemonium.

My mother beams seeing all her long-lost cousins. 

Oh well! What can I do?

I resign myself to the ordeal and look around bored. Sarah and John were already here. Just as I was about to make my way to them, my grandma approaches us.

"Honey, you will be sharing a room with John's mother and Sarah's mother. It's the fifth room on the right on the first floor. All the men are going to sleep in that big hallway where we arranged cots for them. Once we finish eating here, we'll spread some carpets on the granite floor and the kids can sleep," my grandma tells my mom.

My mom's expression is a sight to behold. I giggle internally as I don't dare to laugh out loud. My mom was excited to spent time with her cousins but, she forgot the logistics involved. Mum hated sharing the room with anyone. Even more, she detested sharing the bathroom.

Poor Mom. With everyone around, she doesn't utter a word. 

We drop off the luggage in mom's room and make our way to dinner.

Oh dear! This was going to be an adventure.

Since there were so many of us, grandma spread out rows of palm leaves on the ground. We are each supposed to sit in front of the palm leaves and treat them like plates. Well, since the palm leaves are so flimsy, we can't lift them off the ground.

Sure, I had heard of elders eating this way. But, I am an urban kid. Never have I eaten in anything other than a bowl or a plate. I don't want to lose my cool image by protesting. Besides, my mum will whack me if I act like a spoilt kid. So, I shut my mouth and sit down.

Grandma and a few aunts come out of the kitchen in a line, carrying huge vessels of food. One after the other, they serve each of us on the palm leaves. As soon as we finish eating, we roll up the palm leaves and throw them in the trash.

Now, comes the best part. Sleeping!

Grandma makes us spread carpet across the hard, granite floor. We, kids, are thirty in total.

Grandma shouts, "Alright, all of you kids are going to sleep here. Now, find your spot and sleep."

Sarah and John immediately come to me and we end up sleeping in the center of the room. Their moms ask me to keep an eye on them since I am the eldest.  

It's pitch black and nothing can be seen outside. Having never stayed in a village before, I find the quiet stillness freaky. The strange sounds of animals and insects keep a few of us awake while the other kids sleep soundly.

After tossing and turning for ages, I finally fall asleep. No sooner had I gone into my dreamland, I find someone shaking me. Opening my eyes drowsily, I see John leaning over me.

"What is it, John? I'm sleeping," I mutter.

"Get up. There's something there. It's growling. I'm scared. I think it's a lion," whispers John.

I groan. I am now regretting showing John the horror movie. But, it was so much fun scaring him.

"Dude, just sleep," I mumble, tossing over.

Khrrr. Grrr. Snort. Grrr. Kho. Kho. Snort. Snort.

I sit up with a start. I can hear them too. My hair stands up on its end. I shiver in fear.

Did some animal come inside?

I feel like screaming in terror. But, John is there beside me. If I show I'm scared, I'll never live it down.

Taking a deep breath, I say, "Let's check it out".

We clutch each other's hands and begin to make our way to the sound. Every now and then, we stop and look around just to check that there are no monsters waiting to attack us.

Following the noise, we end up in the hallway where the men are sleeping.

At first, I didn't understand what was going on. What were those noises?

The noise would start at one place and continue at another. A different noise would start at another place and finally, end at yet another place. At each place, the noise was slightly different. Some were deep and some were mellow. Some were short and some were long. It was so strange, odd and terrifying.

Eureka!!

I finally got it. All the dads and uncles were snoring. All the noises were from them. My, my. What a noise!

John is still shivering. I explained what was happening to John. At first, my silly cousin did not believe me. He kept expecting a monster to show up. Foolish brother of mine. After what seemed like forever, he finally accepted what I was telling him.

"Okay, let's go back to bed," said John.

Hmmm. An evil idea took birth. I rushed and grabbed the video camera from my dad's bag. I then recorded the symphony.

The next day, neatly avoiding the terror that John and I experienced, we showed the video to everyone.

What a laugh everyone had! It was darn fun. I'm so glad though, that no one figured out how terrified I was.

Even to this day, after 20 years, we still go to our fathers and uncles and tease them about The Snoring Symphony. Their wives protest not wanting to hear anything negative about their husbands, "The men were tired after the long drive. Otherwise, they don't snore." 

Yeah right!