Things That Go Bump in the Night
My eyes snapped open. There it was again. Scrape, scrape, scrape. My body was rigid under my tightly clutched blankets, like a tightrope strung between two high-rises. In my imagination I fantasized that I was a calm, cool, collected woman, unruffled by strange noises that go bump in the night. But I knew the source of this noise and I was terrified. It was my nemesis. We’d glimpsed each other earlier in the night – sized each other up – but now our face-off was inevitable. Was my courage sufficient? Finally, I awoke the David in me and decided to face my Goliath. I clicked on the light and padded cautiously on bare feet to the door of my room. The hall was dark and the noises emanating from the kitchen grew louder. The belly of the beast I thought to myself. I crept down the hallway in fearful pursuit of my quarry. Scrape, SCRAPE! I froze. In the twilight I could see my enemy. I snapped on the light and we gaped at each other in abject horror. This...