Catastrophe

I woke suddenly, and not knowing why. Then I heard his faint cry. Or – more like a “RAWRE----RAWRE----REAAAWR!”

“no, no, no, no” was all I could muster, as I jumped up. I saw Matt was just waking too. He was nearly out the door, jumping over me. He was able to say what I was thinking, “flashlight!” We continued to hear Jack struggle.

I jumped back over the bed (surely rustling up Tetra). I grabbed the spotlight and brought it to the door. Nothing! The light wasn’t working.

“Get the next one! On the stove!” he shouted. I reached there. Jack’s noises stopped. The battery was dead.  - - - -

I finally found another one that worked.

We called and searched for long time. I had to pull TJ out of bed because she was upset we had left. She searched with us.

Finally, we went back inside. In silence. The girl went back to sleep. Matt said he heard a big animal, maybe dog size, trot right past him in the darkness—right after Jack stopped making noise.

We couldn’t sleep. Matt was clearly upset---going over the many things that made it right for the predator: unfinished fence; our dogs were away by the front cabana with the guests; didn’t latch the screen door; didn’t grab a flashlight fast enough; didn’t make enough loud noise to scare off the predator; etc., etc..

I sat at the back door for a while. I went back to bed. There were no answers. I could see his big eyes. I tried to imagine what happened.

Eventually, the tears came. How could I have let this happen? Why is the world so risky? Is he gone? How will I go on? (you get the picture)

Matt and I held each other. Both so confused and defeated.

I went to blow my nose for a second time, and thought I saw the shadow of an animal. Was I hallucinating? I looked closer. It was a cat? It was Jack?!?!?!?

I couldn’t believe it. This was like the craziest shared dream ever. Cat cries. Cat dies. Cat lives. All in pitch black darkness.

Of course, we showered him with affection, and Matt cursed a bit at him.

Note: I can’t get over how completely blind humans are at night. It’s something I never thought about as much when electricity was so abundant. Living with minimal power is a real eye-opener.