It’s 12:23am. Casper strikes again.

Jackson got this gray Elmo remote control as a birthday gift from his Aunt Tara. It was pretty cool; it looked just like Daddy’s remote control, only it had these big googly eyes on top and it made all these Elmo sounds. Anyway, for some reason, Abby Kate decided to throw it in the toilet this afternoon. Sunny fished the thing out of the commode and deemed it unsalvageable, throwing it in the kitchen trash can. All of this happened before I came home from work, so I was oblivious to the whole thing.

A few minutes ago, Sunny and I woke up to this weird noise. At first it sounded like a dying cat or something right outside our bedroom window. I shot up immediately and ran to the bedroom door and it was obvious that the sound wasn’t coming from outside — it was in the house! I ran out into the kitchen and the sound got louder. Instead of a dying cat, it sounded more like a beatboxing hyena — wiki, wiki, wiki, WIKI! wiki, wiki, wiki, WIKI! I couldn’t believe it, but the sound was actually coming from our trash can!

I say, “Sunny, I think there’s some kind of animal in the trash can.”

Sunny just starts laughing.

Fearfully, I open up the trash can, not knowing what manner of vermin would leap out to attack me. Instead, this is what I see staring up at me:

I guess Jackson’s remote decided to emit this screeching, ear-piercing cry before giving up the ghost. I thought about bringing in Jackson’s Cookie Monster to administer last rites on the thing.

I’m getting sick and tired of this Casper stuff.