Things that go bump in the night

WHAT WAS THAT?

I jerk my head up from the pillow.

It sounds like animals having a rumble on the metal roof.

Pooch Snowball begins to bark.

The clock shows 3:16.

It’s pitch black outside. There is no moon or starlight.

I turn on the outside lights and put on enough clothes to keep from being mosquitoed.

Grabbing the flashlight I step out to reconnoiter.

Cautiously I walk the perimeter beaming the roof edges; it’s too high to see topside without a ladder, not advisable under these conditions.

Silence is all I hear.

The light then finds itself stopping at spots in the open fields.

If there are animals in the vicinity their eyes will reflect like furtive jewels.

A Heathcliff-on-the-moors eeriness sticks to my skin.

THERE, about fifty yards off in the high grass, sure enough two sets of sparkles pierce the misty blackness.

My eyes adjust.

Are they young deer or coyotes slinking towards the road? It remains speculation as they disappear.

I do one more very deliberate 360 degree scan, see or hear nothing else, and return inside.

Of course, opportunist Snowball has – in the few minutes elapsed – curled up on my pillow.

In the morning I’ll ask E my local source for happenings what could this have been? He is very patient and good-humored with a city-dweller turned farmer wannabe.