Things that go bump (or hiss) in the night

Nothing gets your heart racing like waking suddenly in the middle of the night to the phone ringing (you know it has to be bad news) or to some loud noise or the sound of your child calling out for you because he is sick.

Or, in this morning's case, having your spouse jump out of bed, yelling, "What the hell?!"

At 12:39 a.m., I had no idea what was going on. I Jim heard Carter or something but it turns out he heard our cat hissing and growling so loudly it was like she was getting attacked in the living room. So we go out to the dining room and she is still hissing and distraught over, we're guessing here, something she saw out on the front deck. Jim turned the yard light on and off and we looked out from a few windows and didn't see anything.

Now we know Sylvester doesn't get upset about squirrels and birds and rabbits, so we think it may have been a tom cat or something. (Remember, she was attacked, beaten and bitten last fall when she escaped to the great outdoors for a night.)

So we go back to bed and, at this point, we're hoping it was just a stray cat. What if it was a raccoon? Or something big like a bobcat or bear? Kitty was pretty traumatized and was still growling for awhile. Needless to say, we could not just relax and go back to sleep.

She finally came into bed and nestled between our pillows -- as she often does -- but I lay there tensely, thinking, what if she freaks out again, forgets where she's at and takes bite out of one of our heads?! It took a long, long time to get back to sleep.

Sylvester was back at her window seat this morning. We were wondering if cats have a short-term memory. She didn't seem rattled or nervous, whereas we are wondering what vicious being may be lurking about our property!

I wonder if she thinks humans have 9 lives. She certainly wasn't concerned that she made Jim use one of his last night!