Things that go bump in the night

In the early hours of Saturday morning, I awoke to what sounded like a loud explosion, followed by a noise a little like breaking glass.

I turned on the light and went to investigate. Possibilities ran through my mind. It sounded a bit like a car bomb a few streets away, but that seemed unlikely. More plausible was the idea that an electric substation had overloaded and some glass insulating conductors had fallen from melted cables.

Of course, as an avid Mythbusters fan, I also had the tiniest fear that our hot water tank had exploded through the roof.

I got to the kitchen and discovered that the bread machine, which I had set on timer the previous night and forgotten about, had shaken itself at just the right frequency to waddle across the countertop and take a dive over the edge. It had landed on its side, the metal casing making the loud boom I had heard. The lid and contents had then rattled across the floor making a noise like shards of broken glass. Sitting in front of it was a neat ball of dough.

I picked up the pieces and put everything back together. No significant damage; the machine looked like it would still work. I put the dough back in, plugged in, turned on, and went back to bed.

And in the morning there was bread.