1. Little Boss's version of a deep-night mystery
February 19th 2010 11:13
It was 4.15am and not a creature was stirring all through the house. Except Daisy, who was in the back-yard conservatory waking the neighbourhood with a shrill barking which was almost hysterical.
About two months after our new neighbours moved in, they were surprised to see us come back from a walk one day with the dogs. "We didn't know you even had dogs," they said. "They are very quiet. We have never heard them bark."
They have now.
It was 4.15am and my husband and I had been woken from a dead sleep. We rushed out of the bedroom, through the house and into the back yard, alarmed by the most un-Daisy-like racket and distinctly worried about what could be causing it.
When we arrived, somewhat breathlessly, in the conservatory, we found Daisy and Scratchy standing quietly in the moonlight looking at us with a bemused expression.
"It's the middle of the night," they seemed to be saying. "What are you two doing out here?"
Scratchy seemed to have something caught in his throat for he was coughing, but it was a slight and intermittent cough, little different from the one he has every evening after eating his dinner, as is his habit, without chewing. Apart from that, there was not the slightest sign of anything else amiss. No burglars; no mice, rats, possums or birds, dead or otherwise; no fallen trees or burst water mains. Not even a ghost.
All was quiet and peaceful, with the loudest sound being that of a dozen neighbours sighing through pursed lips and fluffing their pillows as they prepared to return to sleep.
Over the next day or two we came up with a few theories as to what it might have been, with a particularly imaginative effort by my husband, involving a giant rat, but nothing really convinced me.
I think this will remain forever a mystery.
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