My Furnace Repairman story.
Quite a few years ago my dad was traveling and my brother was married and away from home, it was just mom and I. It was a chilly, mid October evening and the furnace quit working. My mom called Xcel and they said they would send someone out. It took about an hour so evening was slipping into deep twilight. We had lit a few candles but living in a small home they were all around the television, looked some what like an alter.
The repairman arrived. He was unique, not very talkative, not terribly professional looking, but we were sure he had had a long day. Mom decided she should keep an eye on him rather than leave him unattended. The night continued to get darker. Each time he left to get something from the truck and came back into the house he seemed stranger and creepier. I kept doing what I was doing, listening to hear mom was ok and kept the phone handy. Finally he made one more trip outside and I looked around the house. After all how often do we look at our surroundings from others perspectives?
This is what I observed: The candles set up like an alter, Alfred Hitchcock’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE was playing on the TV. In the middle of the floor was an 6 foot, wooden cross, wrapped in wire. (I was preparing it to put flowers on at a church dinner we would be a part of in a few days). Because it was cold my mom and I had been wearing long, woolen, hooded, capes to keep warm. With the movement we had become warm and causally tossed them aside. No lights on other than the candles and old black and white movie. The cross was getting more and more wire as I worked on preparing it for fresh flowers in a few days. This is the scene he was passing through each time he went to get things from his truck and he was alone.
As he left my mom turned to me and said, “Wow he was creepy! If the furnace goes out again I am telling them not to send him back.”
I agreed and then giggled, “Yeah he was creepy but look around our house from an outsiders perspective.” Mom glanced around and began laughing. She said ,”it gets better.”
It seems while he was working in a dimly lit hallway, on the furnace, the cats were in my room howling and yowling like cats do. The dog leashed at the end of the hallway, to keep him out of the way, was walking on his hind legs, front legs at a weird angle to keep his balance, whining to be let loose and moaning when no one responded. (He always looked like a deformed chimp when he did this and he was a black dog so hard to see in the dim light of the hallway). Then the cats started reach out under the door clawing at his boot laces and hissing at each other.
Dad had called and mom as having a cryptic conversation with him, because she did not want the repairman to know dad as out of town, she was trying to alert dad we might be in danger and wanted him to stay on the phone until the guy left.
I have always wondered what he told Xcel energy when he reported back. He was still creepy but I am sure we had him equally terrified.
