A Knock In the Night

I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. I get tired, but when I lie down I don’t fall asleep.

Tonight I was finally feeling ready to doze off by about 4 am. I was lying there, relaxing, my thought process become disordered as I slipped into sleep… When I heard someone knock on the front door. Four rapid taps. Knock knock knock knock.

As I started to get up, I realized there was a more likely explanation for the noise, but by then the adrenaline surge had shocked me fully awake and alert. I grabbed a heavy police flashlight and went to investigate. No one was at the door.

It’s the damned cats. Did you ever see a cat sit down and scratch its head and neck with its back paws? Well, every once in a while they to this right up against a door, and one of the hard leg joints taps against the door as they scratch. Knock knock knock knock.

I’m used to most of the things cats do in the middle of the night: Meowing, hissing, chasing, even jumping into the bed and walking on top of me. Knocking on the door…that one still gets me.

Now to see if I can get back to sleep…