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Despite having a restless night of sleep, complete with ambiguously ominous dreams, I had finally gotten to what was probably a very low state of rest when I awoke to the black of night and the guttural deep growling of my 15 yr old tabby. When I went to sleep he was peacefully curled up at my feet purring gently as we drifted off to sleep. Now, as my eyes adjusted to the eerie green light coming from my alarm clock, I could see him with an arched back staring out my rear sliding door into the void of a moonless night.
The alarm of my pet coupled with the miasma of sleep and the ill ease of unremembered dreams momentarily combined to form that primal fear probably latent from the ages when distant ancestors feared and worshiped the mystery of the darkness. Shaking that off as ridiculous, I tried to get up. Unfortunately I’m a side sleeper so my arm was unresponsive due to reduced circulation from sleeping on it, which added alarm to an already foggy mind.
After finally rolling of my bed and getting to my feet while tripping across my boots and any other clothing I discarded the night before, I triggered the floods to my backyard. It was empty. No boogey monsters or specters of ethereal nature. There wasn’t even a deer, something which has elicited similar responses from my cat. Nevertheless he was still growling. So I went over to soothe him and get a better look outside.
That was when I saw them, three bandits. Complete with black masks and ring tails. My cat has had run ins with raccoons before and been left the worse for wear because of it, I could understand his alarm. However between the three of them there was probably two years of life. It was comical the way they had bunched together in the surprise of sudden illumination, confused about the disappearance of the animal they were observing and the sudden appearance of what they had no way of knowing was their own reflections.
They were quite close to the glass so one of them, probably the ringleader, stood up on his haunches and peered inside with his pearlescent black eyes. The imperfect image gave way as he got closer and he was able to look directly at me and as his startled cohorts scampered into the night I couldn’t help but think how ridiculously cute that little varmint was.
Then he left to follow what I assume were his siblings. I turned off the floods and directed my reading light toward the window hoping they would come back. But soon I was asleep in a more comfortable slumber than when I was awakened, with my cat back at his post warming my feet.
Posts: 686 | Registered: Sep 2001
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--> The bandits. Dad used to have to go out at night and do more than just chase them away when we lived in Detroit are.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I wasn't there, but my parents tell about the unearthly shreiking and howling emitted by their two housecats when a racoon looked through the sliding glass door on the deck at them!
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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--> The bandits. Dad used to have to go out at night and do more than just chase them away when we lived in Detroit are.
