"What in the world?!?!?" I sat bolt upright in bed - my eyes shooting open and my heart beating like my Kitchen Aid mixer going to town on a meringue. I could hear the unmistakable sounds of someone creeping around the perimeter of my house. I sat as still as possible, the sound of my heart beating so loud in my head I knew the prowler could hear it, too. "Why, why, why tonight when Mike is coaching the late ballgame?"
The branches sunder beneath my bedroom window, scratching the siding, as I listened to his feet crunch in the leaves. I begin to pray, "God, no matter what, please protect the children! Please, please protect the children!" I thought of them lying innocently in their beds, hopefully sleeping soundly and unaware of the horror taking place in their backyard.
I gathered my courage and slunk out of bed. I laid there on the floor for a minute and listened again to hear where he might be now. I could hear footsteps in the garden, by the brick wall. I crawled on my elbows, commando style, to my kitchen. I stuck my arm up and felt around on the counter for my kitchen knife. As I pulled it down, the blade clattered to the tile. "Dang it! Well, that's what you get for buying a set of knives from a teenage boy at a kiosk in front of the waterfall at the mall!" I laid flat on the ground and looked at the windows to see if I could see a shadow of the person torturing me. No shadows emerged.
I crawled over to the phone and picked it up off its cradle. With shaking hands, I dialed 911. It began dialing. I crawled to the window and lifted the sheers to see if I could stealthily locate the prowler. As I lifted it, his figure came around the corner. He looked me dead in the eyes. I heard a voice say, "911. What's your emergency?" I calmly replied, "The neighbors great dane escaped again and he is in my garden eating a strawberry."
~hpt loves to write and hopes never to go through anything as harrowing as this...
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