In February 2006, my 2 kids and I lived in a trailer. There were so many things that happened in the 2 ½ years we lived there. I thought I'd share this one so people would realize not all experiences are bad. Some of them, like this one, are even amusing.
Just a quick layout of the trailer: the main door opens into the living room, the living room and kitchen are open, and the only other door is in the kitchen beside the floor-to-ceiling pantry (relevant.)
March 2006, my daughter Jerrica had a friend stay the weekend with us. Jerrica's friend had been in the pantry and pushed the door to when she was done. Now, this pantry door will not close when you shut it. What I mean is, when you push the door to, it stops at the strike plate. It will not, even if you slam it (we tried), completely shut. You have to physically turn the door knob to shut it. While they were still in the kitchen, Jerrica's friend was standing near the pantry and said she saw the door shut by itself. Because of everything else that happens around us, I didn't have any reason not to believe her. Besides, at this time Jerrica's friend didn't know the door wouldn't shut by itself since this was the first time she'd been there.
Jump ahead a year to March, 2007 (for those of you who don't know, I keep a journal and try to put down the exact date things happen) - I was fixing dinner and our cats Dobbie and Peter Pan were inside. Since it was such a beautiful evening, I had the kitchen door open. As I mentioned, the pantry door does not close by itself. I'm very anal about doors: closet doors, cabinet doors, pantry door, etc have to be shut. I was at the stove, Jerrica in the living room at the computer and my son Dalton in the recliner when I heard the pantry door shut. Now, I was cooking and I had completely shut the pantry door when I was done (OCD). I looked around and the kids were still in the same spots as last time I looked. Just to double check, I asked Jerrica if she closed the pantry door and she said no. I asked her if she knew what that sound was and she said Peter Pan went outside. Now the kitchen door and the pantry door do not sound even remotely the same, but I looked outside and didn't see him on the porch or in the back yard. (Honestly, I have no idea why she thought Peter Pan going outside would make the sound of a door shutting and, truthfully, I don't know why I looked outside!) I'm not sure what made me do this (just one of those feelings I guess), but I opened the pantry door and there was Peter Pan, sitting on the cat food container. I asked Jerrica if either she or Dalton had opened and shut the pantry door with Pete in there and she said no. I was the last one in the pantry and I shut it when I was done and Peter Pan definitely couldn't open it and close it on himself.
April 21, 2007 - Jerrica's friend spent the night with us again and when we were getting ready to take her home, I couldn't get Peter Pan to go out. He ran from me twice when he realized what I had planned to do. The second time he ran I couldn't find him. I looked under the table, on the chairs, under the chairs at the bar (directly across from the pantry), and on those seats also. Then, out of the corner of my left eye, I saw his fur under the door in the pantry. I opened the door and he just looked up at me pitifully like "she did it again." I laughed and said "thank you, Emily." (Emily is the name I was given when I consulted with someone about the little girl in our home.)
When we came home, Peter Pan came back in and headed for his food plate, but stopped short of the kitchen, turned around and went back to the living room door. I opened the door to let him back out but he didn't want to go. He headed back to the kitchen again and stopped -- again just short of the kitchen floor. Finally, after trying 3 or 4 times, he got his courage up and went and ate, but he walked between the bar stools and the bar, staying as far away from the pantry door as he could. It was really funny when I realized what was going on. He didn't want to go near the pantry.
For those of you who have read "I Need My Mommy," this was not the same little girl.
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