Confidently In The Night

By Maryanna Gabriel

This island where I live is fairly civilized but occasionally there are reminders of how it used to be. This week I was looking on the community notice board and it went something like this. “Cougar, a bit bigger than my friend’s female Golden Retriever, spotted this morning sunning itself.” Last night I ventured trepidatiously forth into the crisp moonlight where an owl was hooting and rasping. Rasping? Owls rasp? I realized he was very close and crept around the house trying to decide if he really was on my porch. He called and not wanting to frighten him off I lay down in the silver light listening. As I mentally reviewed cougar attack protocol, suddenly the bush to the side of me cracked loudly. My heart pounded as a buck bounded away. I relaxed and thought uncharitably, oh good, a decoy, and made my way confidently in the night. Well at least the bear sightings were over a month old, I muttered to myself, as I closed the front door with a testy shove.