A Single Ping Only

 

In the movie, The Hunt for Red October, if a submarine wanted to judge the distance to another submarine, they would send out a sound wave and record the time it took for the signal to bounce back.  That calculation gave them the distance.

 

Sometime during the night one of our smoke detectors sent out a single ping.  More of a partial beep really, but enough to wake me up.  I didn’t believe there was a fire anywhere, I just assumed it was a low battery, notifying us that it was dying.  Sort of like its own little death rattle.

 

So, I laid there waiting to see if there would be another, or was it just trying to judge the distance from itself to me?  Anything is possible when you’re groggy.

 

Here’s the problem with cement walls, 12-foot ceilings and hard flooring. The house becomes an echo chamber. There is never any way of telling which smoke alarm is going off.  No matter where you stand, it becomes a guessing game.

 

“I think it’s that one.”

“No, it definitely sounded like it was coming from over there.”

“Nope, it’s got to be coming from… wait for it…

 

Fine, now it stopped.”

 

Returning from battle stations, I rejoined my dream – already in progress.  Funny how that works.  Anyway, that was last night, and this is now Sunday morning.  The seas are calm, and the cook says blueberry muffins are on the menu.

 

 

ZC – Out.