Hot Time in the Old Town Last Night

Last night around midnight, I went into the kitchen to get some water. Clark (the cat) was on a pillow on the couch, which is about a foot from the sliding glass door leading out to the patio. The couch runs parallel to the sliding glass doors.

As I was getting water, I heard Clark fall off the couch, which is an extremely unusual occurrence; at least it's never happened when I've been home. When I got to that wall, Clark was looking out the window, his tail whipping back and forth, and the hair on his back starting to stand on end. Then he came running around the corner (there's another window), and he was plastered to that window looking out at (whatever might be, though I'm pretty sure aren't knights seeking shrubbery).

I start hearing noises now, tapping against the window, rustling around (there are lots of leaves out there -- they fall from the trees, and the groundsmen blow all of the excess under the fence on my patio). All in all, these are not normal sounds, and certainly not at midnight does one expect or want to hear these things. I got dressed and was about to go outside when I realized I needed some kind of weapon. Not owning a gun, I looked for one of my hammers. No hammers. I went back into the kitchen and saw a black handle. Aha! A knife! While Crocodile Dundee would probably still laugh, my eight-inch butcher TV knife would have to serve.

Let me add that the patio and porch lights were out (these are maintained by the apartment mgmt, not me), so I couldn't see anything.

Then I thought that the police might be better people (and better equipped) to handle the situation. Twenty minutes later, they showed up. There was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" I asked, and a male voice responded, "It's the police." I looked out the window, and it being dark with the lack of lightage, I could just see a dark figure through the peephole. "Just letting you know, I have a big knife here." If it's the police, I'd rather them not be shocked to see it and panic, and if it's not the police, then I've given fair warning.

Well, I'm pretty sure it was just a cat wandering around. A couple of minutes before the police arrived, I got down and peeped out at Clark level and saw four legs walk by the outside of the patio fence. I left out the part where I caught a shadow seem to jump over the fence. Which could have been any number of things, including a person hopping over. Or a cat jumping up and down.

It took me a while to calm down from this little episode. I slept with the knife next to my pillow. This kind of excitement I don't need!