When I was six years old, we lived in an older home that had push-button light switches.
It was like two Licorice All-sorts ( the black and white ones with that snowy core of coconut) had been inserted into the wall.
I assume these fixtures would be left overs from an ancient electrical system but to my young eye they seemed the pinnacle of elegance. (Yes, I harbored faint longings for a somehow yet-to-be-discovered aristocracy even then …)
This particular light switch though, whose function was to guide anyone up to the second floor was unhelpfully located on the landing of the stairs. There was gold damask wallpaper with a raised, velvet nap flanking both sides of the stairs and although it was quite innocuous by day, as soon as the light faded, I began to see taunting, sneering faces in the interlocking scrolls of the pattern: a pointed devil beard here, a wolf or some other demonic creature of the night there, stretching lips back to reveal pointed teeth and rolling, unforgiving eyes.
Each night I had to make a dash for that switch in the darkness.
Even though it was only about 10 seconds to make that leap through the blackness, taking the stairs two at a time, I could feel that hot breath on the back of my neck getting closer and closer, unseen claws making a strange clicking sound now as their speed increased, till I finally smacked the light switch hard to flood the area with a bright, white puddle of safety which caused the beasts behind me to dissolve into a cone of sandy nothingness.
I think back to this sometimes and how genuinely frightened I really was and wonder why the HELL my parents couldn’t have just left the light on for me?
Oh my goodness – love this! I too lived in a house with these old light “buttons”. Ours were brass, with what I fancied was mother of pearl in the middle of the button. On the wall above the buttons in the first floor hallway was a little box with numbers that flipped down when someone rang the doorbell, indicating by number if it was the front door, side door, or another side door. Quite la-di-da. It was a beautiful old white elephant of a house and once, when everyone was out, I read The Shining all afternoon in my bedroom and when it was time to get up and go downstairs, I Could Not Move!! Great memories!!
bflyguy
What a wonderful story! I do remember those black and white light switches in our home at 38 Queen St in Sin Thomas. My childhood horrors were somewhat different, mostly involving the fact that my bedroom was a hallway betwixt my sister’s room and the rest of the house.
Oh my goodness – love this! I too lived in a house with these old light “buttons”. Ours were brass, with what I fancied was mother of pearl in the middle of the button. On the wall above the buttons in the first floor hallway was a little box with numbers that flipped down when someone rang the doorbell, indicating by number if it was the front door, side door, or another side door. Quite la-di-da. It was a beautiful old white elephant of a house and once, when everyone was out, I read The Shining all afternoon in my bedroom and when it was time to get up and go downstairs, I Could Not Move!! Great memories!!
What a wonderful story! I do remember those black and white light switches in our home at 38 Queen St in Sin Thomas. My childhood horrors were somewhat different, mostly involving the fact that my bedroom was a hallway betwixt my sister’s room and the rest of the house.