Spirits

There are spirits in the kitchen, she says, and it seems they like to cook at about 3 a.m. The amazing thing is, no food is missing, but a big mess is left.

Let's leave a letter, I say. We can thank them for visiting and cooking, but tell them we are going to hide the dishes if they don't start cleaning them.

These are the kinds of activities one gets up to when one lives in a house full of insomniacs. We are excellent stimulation for each other, but terrible managers of bed-time etiquette. At 12:30 p.m. the other night I had to silence the racket outside my door... but as my state of full dress and brisk working manner gave me away in an instant, I was immediately sucked in to their mid-hallway excitement.

Once the clock moves past about, say, midnight, it doesn't take much to be excited about anything. You just LOVE life, and anyone who is willing to share it...

At 1 am the other morning, I tiptoed down the hall and put my ear against a door... ha! She was up, the kitchen-watcher, and we exchanged a quick laughing hello as her call was put on hold and I waltzed through her door... reading, writing, these are all inspiring acts in the dark of night, as is typing on a computer!

My god-daughter caught me in the act of updating FB at 3:00 a.m. the other morning. What she didn't know was that I was waiting to review a paper, from my fellow light sleeper next door... 4 a.m. is her academic deadline, and I am her english language editor. A tough price to pay for amazing Thai dinners delivered the next day.

So how do you trap a sneaky kitchen spirit in a house full of insomniacs? If I did as the Irish, and put out whiskey each night, I might catch them singing. Or, maybe we'll all just join them for a mid- night gathering.