Segment 1

I Hook By Night -- a Crochet Soap
© Copyright 2000, 2001 by P. June Diehl

Segment 1

Janice paced the floor waiting for her precious infant daughter, Rebecca, to fall asleep in her arms. Tom, her husband, was asleep in their bedroom. The night was dragging on for Janice.
She could hear the clock ticking from down the hallway. The space between each tick and tock of the grandfather clock seem to take longer. Time Janice did not have to waste. The clock chimed 1 AM. She must get back to her crochet project, an afghan she had designed and was now creating for her maternal grandmother.

Finally, Rebecca seemed to be in a deeper sleep and Janice felt safe in laying her down. She gently transferred Rebecca from her arms to the crib, turned, and tip-toped out of the nursery, the light from the hallway guiding her way.

Janice let out a sigh as she closed the nursery door behind her. She made her way into the room over the garage - her craft/computer/work room. Tom would flip out if he knew how much yarn, hooks, patterns, and other craft supplies were housed in this room. With Tom working in the computer field and her job as an editor and writer, Janice knew they were blessed to be making good money, but everything was so expensive! The bills just seem to skyrocket once Rebecca was born. But, she thought, he wouldn't, couldn't find out how much of their money she was spending on her favorite passion. This was her secret.

Flipping on the juice to the computer, she pulled a bag from under the computer table, flipped her long brown hair out of her way, and started to work on the afghan. The afghan was a filet piece featuring a windmill, a Dutch boy and girl, and tulips. Janice knew her Grammy would love this afghan and the picture it contained as her Grammy had moved from Holland to the USA when she was 8 years old. Grammy had not been back to Holland since she had left, but Janice loved the stories she had been told since before she could remember.

She only put her hook down long enough to login to her email. "Ahh!" she said aloud, "Look at all this email - just for me!" Reading the email, she continued working on the afghan, her fingers seemingly taking on a life of their own.

After reading all her crochet-related email, chatting with a few crochet web friends, and checking on her bids on the online auctions, she glanced at the computer clock and realized she must get a couple hours sleep before getting ready to go to work. She shut down the computer, cut the power at the power strip, put her crochet work away, and headed off to bed.

As she passed the grandfather clock in the hall she again glanced at the time - 3:52 AM. She yawned and walked silently into the bedroom. Tom was gently snoring. She slid out of her clothes and into the bed, careful not to bump into Tom, least she wake him.

She sighed, thinking, mission accomplished! Another successful night. Tom had no idea of her unfaithful thoughts about her passion for another or the crochet dreams that filled her sleeping hours.