Open Your Eyes

For some time now Eli has been saying that he is scared to go to bed because of the eyes in the garden. He showed me yesterday when it was dark and of course I said that I could not see them.

"Over here, you have to come down here to see them ". Getting low at the french window, or as double glazing sales people call it a combination door, I could see what he was talking about.

"What is it"? both my children cry.
"It's a mystery, I will have to get the torch and go outside and investigate".
"Ooooooo"

Before I took the torch we tried a few experiments involving the explanation of reflections and turning lots of lights in different rooms on and off.

First we tried turning off some of the lights in the lounge but the "eyes" were still there. Then we turned all the lights off in the lounge so that it was very dark and still the "eyes" were there. "They are still there" shouted the children.
This is where I explained about reflections and that the eyes in the garden were a light somewhere shinning on something in the garden.

So we tried the lights in the kitchen and turned them off. "Daddy, Daddy it's gone the eyes have gone" they shouted. "Where have they gone dad". This is where I explain again more carefully about reflections and the fact that the "eyes" have not really gone anywhere because they were just a reflection on something in the garden and if I turn the light on again they will appear again.

"Daddy they are back, what are they, is it a ghost and they're moving".

"Its just a reflection look if I turn the light off it will go away"

"Daddy they have gone, where have they gone, the ghost has gone"

"It is not a ghost it is just a reflection".

"Go outside and see dad"

This is the bit where I am reminded about the "eyes" that pop out and say "hello" to the unbelieving parent in the old 'Amityville Horror' film after denying the existence of ghosts to her son.

I grab the torch with great bravado and again tell the children not to worry because it is just a reflection and that it is just the kitchen light shining on something. I moved push along cars, tractors and piles of plastic chairs and finally the "eyes" went.

"Dad, they've gone, where have they gone, will the ghost come back" they shout from the back door.

No it was just a refection and now I have moved everything out of the way it will not come back. And then I see it a pair of red eyes shining at me as I point the torch down the garden. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

It was just a fox.