The Case of the Creaking Gate

 

These are a depiction of the gates of mercy that are open in the heavens during the 10 Days of Return, but are similar enough to my garden gates for me to use them in an illustration (minus all the clouds and the fact that the gates are suspended in mid-air!)

    As I was walking back from the shop the other day, I clicked the remote and our big steel gate opened - with an eerie creak, that reminded me of the mystery novels I used to read as a young girl - they all had titles like that. The Famous Five and the Secret Seven. I used to call the author Gnid Button, until an adult explained that it was actually Enid Blyton. I couldn't understand how adults could write such ill-formed letters!

    Something about the sound our gate made on this particular day made me think back to all those stories. It also took my mind back to recent history when we had torrential rain and virtually the entire city was underwater.

    For us here at this house, it seemed harmless at first. I sat ensconced in my bedroom under the covers, blissfully unaware of the watery world outside. I happened to look at my phone and saw all my neighbours were borrowing and lending towels to stop the water flowing into their homes. 

    "Oh my gosh," I thought. "Thank You Lord that this isn't touching us!"

    Then I got up and looked out the lounge window!

    There was no gate, so I assumed the landlord had opened it to prevent it being damaged by the raging waters forcing their way down our driveway. The street was 2 or 3 feet under water and there was nowhere else for the water to go but into yards and houses. If I was a white-water rafting fan, I could easily have practised the sport down our street and driveway. The force with which the water was gushing and rushing down our driveway was INCREDIBLE!

    As some of the men in our street opened a manhole for the water to go down and the level of the water in our driveway dropped, I began to see something glimmering in the flat part of our very steep driveway! It was the big steel gate! The force of the water had completely removed it, hinges, bolts and all, from its previous protective stance at the top of the driveway!

    The men got it back up, but of course it was on manual until the insurance company sent someone to effect repairs. They had to come back several times to fine tune the installation. The gate has never been the same again. Forever changed. It used to open and close at a snail's pace, but now it was racing! After a further fix, the speed slowed down a bit - and it started to creak. No one could sneak into the yard anymore late at night! (If they were coming through the gate, that is!)

    So now we have a new motor, a new gate and a new creak on the new gate. It still inspires stories of mystery and mayhem in my mind.

    We live in a very beautiful, safe and quiet area. So even though the gate creaks, that's the beginning and end of the excitement. At least for our particular property. Some of our neighbours are more beset by the criminal element than us - I'm not sure why they tend to leave us alone, but I am grateful to HaShem.

A bit of a boring mystery story, no? Sometimes boring is good.

Shannah Tovah!