While I’m always happy to have such a beautiful landscape just steps from my front door sometimes that last walk out with the dog can be a little unnerving. Chase is taken for three walks a day first thing in the morning, in the afternoon and once more in the late evening.
During the summer the long days mean it is rarely fully dark when I take him out and in the winter months the snow reflects and the smallest hint of light multiplies to a soft glow and even on a moonless night it never seems to be really dark. In fall and spring however when there is no snow and the days are short on moonless or cloudy nights it is often pitch black.
Last night was one of those nights. The sky was cloudy and not a hint of the moon could be seen. It was a very crisp cool night with a slight breeze. Someone near the forest was playing opera in their house very loudly and you could very faintly hear the music playing on the breeze.
The cool night and the rustle of leaves in the wind along with the faint hint of music reminded me of Halloween. We are close enough to the park that when an event is going on we often hear the music being played and for three weeks in October we hear the music from Boo at the Zoo. The music playing last night reminded me of that same sound.
Walking along the path while straining to hear exactly what was playing it occurred to me just how dark the night was. I searched through the bare branches above me to the cloudy sky for a hint of moon but there was none to see. Of all the things to think about it occurred to me this was the time of year when a bobcat first appeared around our house last year and I started feeling just a wee bit creeped out.
Then something further along the path moved across it. It almost certainly was a deer crossing along any one of the many deer trails that criss-cross the main path but that slowly drifting shadow and soft rustle followed by the sharp snap of a branch would make any ones skin crawl. I was suddenly very aware of each night sound and the darkness surrounding me.
It’s amazing how that first moment of creepiness leads to absolute paranoia in just a matter of seconds. A nice calm late evening walk turned into a spooky and nerve racking experience. From the corner of my eye every shadow began to move, faint sounds were all around me and I just knew something had to be out there.
The dog completely unaware of my mounting nervousness was in no mood to cut his walk short and continued forward looking back at me every few steps as if I’d gone nuts. The rational part of me that isn’t scared of the dark encouraged me to go a few steps further and scoffed at my mounting nervousness. The irrational part of me was saying “something” is out there and you need to get the hell out of here right this instant.
I very quickly decided to agree with my irrational side and turned back towards the safety of the streetlights. My first step back out of the darkness of the forest was accompanied by a sigh of relief, and the realization that I just let a deer creep me out.
But just maybe it was something else……….
