Visitors

Insomnia seems to be my new companion. No nightmares last night, I don't know why sleep eluded me. I was blissfully sleeping and then I was awake, as simple as that. I was bone weary but just couldn't get back to sleep. I tossed and turned and flopped around fluffing my pillow and flapping my blanket until my hubby in a small tired voice said "don't I get to sleep either?" With a sigh of resignation I rose in the middle of the night like Nosferatu awake and thirsting for something I couldn't quite put my finger on, restless. I wandered the quiet rooms of my house. The world looks so different under cover of darkness everything looks peaceful and soft, lines smudged by the dark. The cats are curled up on the couch they barely notice me. I turn on the light in the fish tank. They swim in lazy circles wondering if it's time to eat.

I went outside to look at the sky. The night was cool and the breeze raised goosebumps on my arms. It felt refreshing. I took a deep cleansing breath. There is something different about night air. The moon cast an eerie glow across my landscape the stars were not as bright in the city as I remembered them from the north woods but I could see the big dipper and Orion's belt.

There were no lights on in any of the houses in my cul-de-sac. My neighbors were still tucked in their beds, unless like me they were at peace in the dark. Maybe they were looking out their window seeing me wondering what we have in common that we were both awake at this hour sitting in the dark. I sat on my front porch and just listened to the sounds of the night. I could hear cars on the freeway I wondered who were all the people in all the cars where were they going rushing to and fro in the middle of the night?.

I could hear the faint barking of a dog far away. I heard a rustle off to my left. I held my breath and waited quietly. I was not frightened, it was not the stealthy sound of someone sneaking. I heard crunching footfalls through the thicket of woods in my neighbors yard. Then I saw them. There were three of them. Deer, beautiful, sleek, gentle. They turned their dreamy brown gaze on me, for just a moment we regarded each other. I did not move or say anything. They stood perfectly still, gorgeous breathing statues. They were not spooked by me, perhaps they just thought I was another creature of the night. This is their time, the night belongs to them I am out of place in their space. They turned away, I was dismissed. They decided I was not a threat, just another piece of the landscape. They sauntered slowly past me and walked up the hill single file and disappeared behind another house.

I was reminded that the night has its own rhythm and people and creatures that move with it. I got another glimpse of my visitors as they crossed at the top of my street. I let out a whistle. They froze and looked at me again. Then turned and bolted like brown lightening, I saw the flash of their white tails and they disappeared into the night. I was suddenly very tired. This is what I woke up to see. I crawled in my bed and cuddled under my blankets slowly warming up and relaxing. I went peacefully back to sleep.