Our old house has no heating system and on a cold, rainy night we’re glad to have a fireplace. Our dog and 2 cats love when we light a fire and on this winter night the three of them were competing for the spot on the hearth closest to the heat, risking sudden ignition in their quest to get warm.
I was chilly too so I laid down on the floor next to the animals. I only planned to be there for a minute or two but of course I dozed right off with the old cat curled up on my chest, the kitten wrapped awkwardly around my neck and the puppy glued to my side.
I don’t know how long I slept but I woke up with a start because the old cat was standing up, staring at the ceiling. Her back was arched menacingly and her claws were digging into my flesh. My partner must have despaired of rousing any of us because the lights were off and he had gone to bed; the fireplace provided the only light in the room .
That’s when I noticed that the puppy and kitten were also on their feet, staring intently at the ceiling. The hair on the dog’s back was standing straight up and both cats’ tails were puffed up to three times their normal size, like a fox’s. The old cat was growling softly, deep in her throat.
At first I thought that there must be a lizard on the ceiling, but a lizard would not cause all three animals to go into their “high alert” mode. Wondering, I held my breath and strained to listen.
That’s when I heard it: The unmistakable sound of something shuffling across the attic floor; I looked at the animals and they looked at me; it was anyone’s guess which of us would be under the bed first. My rational mind wondered if there was a rat in the attic, or a possum, but there is no rat or possum alive that was big enough to make the noise that I was hearing. I thought suddenly of the “Wizard of Oz”: “I do believe in ghosts, I do believe in ghosts,” and I laughed out loud.
The sound in the attic stopped briefly when I laughed but then resumed and now the dog began to growl because it sounded like the footsteps were coming towards the air conditioning vent directly over our heads.
I was debating going up to the attic to investigate when there was a loud crack from the fireplace: The cats, showing rare good sense, made a dive under the coffee table and the dog jumped into my lap.
A moment later we all jumped when we heard a loud, soft thud on the window; this was followed by a profound silence. I tiptoed to the window, the dog following at a safe distance, and pulled back the blind. Outside the rain continued to fall gently and the streetlight silently guarded the property. Everything seemed normal. I settled into my chair and a moment later both cats and the dog were in my lap.
I woke up at 7:00 to a sunshiny day. I checked the attic, and of course it was empty. I laughed at my overactive imagination and made a pact with the animals that we would not mention last night’s adventure to my partner. “Why worry him?” I asked, and they all nodded gravely. Then I opened the door to let the dog out and we both took a large, involuntary step backwards. There was a very large, very dead blackbird under the dining room window, its neck twisted grotesquely behind it, as though it had looked over its shoulder while it was fleeing something large and lethal when the window got in the way.