Well it might have been time for bed but it wasn’t time for sleep. I was asleep for only about an hour when all of a sudden I was sitting upright in my bed with my flashlight shinning on a creature making a loud squeaking noise. I told myself to be calm; it’s only a small rodent but then came another, bigger one. This was the momma coming to the rescue of its frightened baby. It crawled up to the noisy thing and bit down on the scruff of its neck. Then it crawled down to the floor. I couldn’t be brave any longer. “Alice? ALICE are you awake?” “Yes”, was the reply.
After about 30min we had the things cornered in the bathroom, flashlights in hand, randy with a stick of rebar and Alice shouting “Randy, don’t you hurt my new bathtub.” We locked it in the bathroom and removed all hiding places in my room. Then we were all back in bed. I fell asleep, again. Then I awoke to the pounding rain, rolling thunder, and flashing lightning. I could hear the wind whipping through the trees. Then the noisy creature was again calling for its mother. But I knew it was locked behind the bathroom door (we blocked the gap under the door so there was no escaping). Sleep came once again.
In the morning I awoke surprisingly refreshed. The day was spent cleaning. I again was back to the sweeping and mopping. My room and the living room are now droppings free. The 3ft wide puddle formed overnight on the floor in the master bedroom is also gone.
A break during the day to walk to the mission station was gladly welcomed. When the men went down the road to the market in search for charcoal, us girls happily went along.
The evening was spent around a kerosene lantern playing Phase 10. Life with the Matthewsons is hard but good.
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