Phantom Felines And Other Ghostly Animals - Gerina Dunwich 2006

Tea Time
Other Ghostly Animals

by Carole Emms

The oddest thing happened to me one time when I was babysitting at a neighbor’s house. (And, even now, just thinking about it gives me some serious chills!)

After putting the baby to bed that evening I sat down on the living room couch and started reading a book to help pass away the time. The house was very still except for the steady tick, tick, tick coming from the clock that sat on the fireplace mantel.

All of a sudden a voice came from the dining room and startled me. It was a strange-sounding voice, neither male nor female, and it said something that sounded like “Tea time.”

I put down my book and called out, “Hello?”

I waited a minute or two but no reply came. Nervously, I tiptoed into the dining room to investigate. No one was there and nothing seemed out of place. I checked on the baby, who was fast asleep, and then returned to the living room couch where my book awaited.

I had just finished reading the first chapter when again I heard the same voice come from the dining room.

“Tea time…. Tea time.”

My heart started to beat faster and I sat there frozen with fear, contemplating whether or not I should take the baby and flee from the house. As clips from teenage slasher movies played over and over in my head, I nervously whispered to myself, “This is just too weird.”

I sat there for what felt like an eternity, waiting for the voice or the sound of approaching footsteps (in which case I know I would have run out of the house without hesitation!), but the only thing I heard was the ticking of the clock.

The baby began to cry, and the first thought that went through my mind was that someone (or something) was in her room trying to harm her. Without thinking of my own safety, I instinctively picked up the fireplace poker and charged into the baby’s bedroom, ready to confront whatever threatening menace might be in there. With my adrenaline pumping violently, I switched on the light and quickly scanned the room. I was surprised (and relieved) to find no one but the baby in there. I quickly locked the bedroom door and stayed in the room with the baby until her parents returned home later that evening.

I told them about the strange voice in the dining room and the mother clearly had a shocked expression on her face. She looked at her husband and then gazed toward the dining room and said, almost to herself, “Well isn’t that the queerest thing?” She then told me that her mother, whom she inherited the house from, used to have a very talkative pet mynah bird that she kept in a large cage in the dining room. Every afternoon her mother used to ask the bird what time it was, and it always replied, “Tea time.”