Danger in the Morning

 

Sophie thinks she saved me from a frightful injury the other morning.  She had already spent quite a bit of time staring out the bedroom window and barking before I finally got up to let her outside.  It was just daylight, with a thick fog that hid everything more than 100 feet away.  Whatever she saw, or sensed, was hidden to me.  She rushed to the edge of the porch and continued barking hysterically, the bark she reserves for “There’s something out there and it’s dangerous.”  I figured it was a dawdling nocturnal visitor in the garden, searching for leftover goodies, or an early rising rabbit or squirrel.  I went back to bed to read for a few minutes before beginning my Monday.

After ten or fifteen minutes of non-stop barking, I decided to investigate the imminent threat myself.  Sophie was not going to let whatever this was go.  So, on with my robe and shoes, and I braved the early morning danger.  I couldn’t see any creatures, but I did see an unfamiliar colorful object lying next to the fence near my bedroom window.  I took it to be a plastic bag.  Now, Sophie enjoys playing with plastic bags if she can steal one, so the sight of one lying on the ground was not all that unusual, but that was the area where she was laser focused.  I thought there must be some creature hidden in the bushes by the fence and walked to the edge of the porch to look closer.  Sophie placed herself in front of me and sat down.  That is her response to anything she feels might be a danger to her human mom.  Obviously, there was a serious threat to my safety out there and she was going to place herself between me and it, whatever it was.  She continued to bark.  Bear, who was not participating in the frenzy, came over to see what was going on.  He gave Sophie a look like “What?”  She gave him a contemptuous glare right back, obviously feeling that he was not doing his part in protecting mom from certain death.

I finally got past my guardian and walked over for a closer look at the intruder.  It was a deflated mylar balloon, an escapee from a birthday party, which obviously had evil designs on everyone in the area.  Who knows what it might have done to us had Sophie not been on the job?  If it had made its way into the house, it could have wrapped itself around my face and smothered me in my sleep.  Taking my life in my hands, I picked it up.  Sophie sniffed it thoroughly and that seemed to be the end of that. 

It’s a day or two later and now the story gets a little stranger.  This morning I noticed some disturbance in the ground near where the balloon landed.  On closer inspection, I find that Bear, Sophie’s cohort, has dug a hole big enough to hide a body in.  We are talking about a HOLE.  He must have worked half the night on it.  And he’s busy digging another one just a few feet away.  What does he know that I don’t know?  Is it a storm shelter?  Or does he plan on killing someone and needs a place to hide the body?  Or does he think I need a root cellar in which to store our valuables? Maybe the balloon was part of space alien reconnaissance before the invasion.  Sophie has thoroughly inspected his work and seems pleased.  What do they know that I don’t know?  It’s making me a little uneasy.