"What's going through your mind now?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Concentrate hard."
"I just see a light. I mean, it's not dark. You know, it's not dark."
"Yet when you came back from the restaurant you were struck by how dark it was."
"Did I say that?"
"Yes."
"I remember the house was dark, because we couldn't see. I remember thinking they can't see the guest room very well and they'd never seen it before. Of course they could have turned on the light. It was very dark outside. I don't believe we turned on many lights. We Just went to bed. We were all very tired and we all just wanted to go to bed. The thought flitted through my mind, you know, as the hostess, should we drink something or sit and talk, but we all just wanted to go to bed."
"What time was it?"
"I think it was about nine."
"When you came back from the restaurant?"
"You were very tired. You get tired earlier out there. It's funny. Restful. Affects everybody. Never stay up late."
"I don't know what the calendar says, but I get the sense that there was a new moon that night. Very little moonlight." (Dr. Naiman had not been told that there was a heavy fog all night and it was inky black due to the lack of reflected light in this sparsely populated area. The moon was waning and past the half. It rose about 10:30 and set in the pre dawn hours.)
"No."
"No what?"
"I — it — I don't know. It seems like there was a light."
"Tell me about it."
"No. I don't think there was. I think I just think there was. I mean — it's just that I have my eyes closed and it's not dark. It's light."
"You're back on that night, October fourth?"
"Well, I'm trying to be. I'm there and we go to bed. I remember when we're in the restaurant more clearly. Then we walk to the parking lot and the car s cold. Very cold. It's dark, but the restaurant's illuminated outside. It does seem to be a dark night yes it does. But the restaurant has lights aiming at it, so maybe the contrast . . . but it seems like a very black and inky night. But a clear night? Stars? I don't think it was gray and cloudy because when it's cloudy it seems light. But when it's clear you can see the dark night and you can see the stars. But. I don't —"
"Let's go back to your being in bed. It was some time after nine o'clock that night."
"It was odd being in bed with people in the house because you feel like you can't talk loudly. Out house is not very soundproof."
"What?"
"Our house isn't very soundproof."
"So you had to be quiet —"
"You feel like if you bounce around in bed they can hear you and they can hear you talk so you kind of whisper and feel self-conscious. .and it was odd to think of so than v people in the house because usually there's just my son down there and it's very empty . . . in the kitchen . . . you feel like it's empty and it was so full. The house was full, you know."
"Did that give you a feeling of security?"
"No. It was just different."
"But you do remember lying in bed with Whit and whispering?"
"Vaguely. Not very clearly. I don't remember much about that."
"Were you comfortable in bed?"
"Well, we were kind of — yeah, we're always comfortable in bed "
"On a night in October, it must be pretty chill up there "
"October? No. November. It's December."
"No. October fourth we're talking about."
"October?"
"It was October that Jacques and Annie —"
"So it was. I think it was December. Because remember snow. But it didn't snow in October "
"It didn't?"
"It's not likely. I remember snow." (Either she has confused the October and December experiences, or she has a vague memory of the chilly fog.) "I remember it was very cold."
"Do you remember the kind of clothes you were wearing when you went to the restaurant?"
"No. But they'd be casual clothes. Maybe they'd be my daytime clothes. A skirt . . . I might not have changed clothes."
"I'm interested in exploring how cold you were. Were you wearing enough clothes?"
"I might not have been, because I often leave my country clothes up there. It's always cold in that house, because you have to get the fire up. I would have been cold, but I turned on the electric mattress pad and got warm."
"How did your body feel that night?"
"Well, I think it was cold and got warm. Our room was very warm when Whitley woke me up."
"In the middle of the night or the morning?"
"Oh, it was during the middle of the night. Yeah."
"Tell me about that."
"Whitley'd been talking about the chimney lately. Feeling it. And he thought the roof was on fire. But I didn't see how the roof could be on fire because there were no flames and there was no light." (I woke her up the first time when I was awakened by the light that passed by the windows. By the time she was aroused, it had reduced to a small glow in the front yard.)
"If the roof's on fire you'd see the roof all lit up. He saw a light that I didn't see."
"Did he tell you about the light when he woke up?"
"Well, he said . . . I don't remember how he did but I had the impression that he saw flames or light. Not flames. It didn't make sense to me."
"Is it possible you didn't open your eyes?"
"Yeah."
"'That's possible?"
"Yeah."
"Yet you do make some references to a light that night."
"That feeling is gone now. But I don't remember it as a restful night."
"You know. Budd is here of course. And you don't mind if he asks some questions?"
"No."
Budd Hopkins: "Did you have any dreams that night?"
"Don't remember."
Budd Hopkins: "You said it had been a restless night. Because of dreams?"
"Let me think. I don't think Whitley was there very much. He was gone. You know, he goes sometimes at night. He goes and works. Or he just goes."
"Where did he go that night?"
"Downstairs."
"You have an impression of Whit being away from the bed?"
"Yes. It's lonely, you know. I wish he wouldn't do that."
"Was it after he said the roof's on fire?"
"I think it was before too He went out, then he came back again. He just was doing things all night."
"It certainly was not a night of sound, deep sleep for you, was it?"
"Well, it doesn't seem to be but I don't remember anything. But it has to be really."
"Did you hear your son?"
" Yes! "
"You heard that?"
"Oh, yes, he sounded so frightened. Really scared."
"Is that very common?"
"He gets nightmares sometimes. But he sounded especially frightened. I remember he sounded really terrified. So frightened. More frightened than usual."
"He screamed, eh?"
"Oh, yes. Oh, yes! It's painful to hear." (Nobody else remembered him screaming, only calling for me.)
"Is that something that in a normal night's ht's sleep you might sleep through without hearing?"
"Oh, no, no! Whitley usually hears him first, but I always hear him."
"You didn't sleep that soundly?"
"Oh, no. I heard it."
"I know you heard it. But I want to know if you heard it —"
"Oh, no. I heard it. Some nights I might not, but usually I hear it. This you couldn't miss. I mean. it was so loud."
"Did he say words?"
"Well, he did but I don't remember what they were. He was really scared. Something really scared him. I thought maybe something was happening to him. because it was like something was happening to him. I thought somebody was doing something to in. It was :r different kind of scream."
"Why didn't you go to him?"
"Because Whitley was already on his way . But I remember feeling very uneasy. I wanted to go too. but I felt I shouldn't."
"Why not?"
"I thought there was something Whitley would — It had to do with him. He was supposed to go."