The Sound

I heard it in the late evening, a sound so foreign that it was difficult to figure what it could be. The more I tried to focus on it the further its definition seemed to recede from my mind's grasp. I was sitting on my back deck smoking the last cigarette of the day, as I like to do right before locking up & turning out the lights & heading to bed. It's funny the perverse enjoyment one gets when engaging in an activity known to be harmful… it's amazing how calming it can be to slowly destroy oneself. That's not the intent, of course, but it's there.

The sound it seemed was coming from my neighbour's yard on the other side of a fence about 10 feet from where I sat. It appeared as though my neighbour had gone out for the evening, though there was a light on in one of the windows. I felt that I should probably refrain from attempting to clamber – or even peer – over the fence & as it was quite dark I wouldn't have seen much anyway. I did however take my cigarette lighter & crept up to the fence, squinting through the gaps barely illuminated by the tiny flame. As I did so the sound – which at this point I was certain was being made by a living creature – quietened, giving me the feeling that I was also being observed & that "it" had a better view than I did. I moved back to my chair & as I did so the sound rose again. I strained my ears & even as quiet as it was I couldn't figure out the nature of the sound. Assuming that it was indeed a creature of some sort, it almost sounded in pain, yet at the same time vaguely threatening. There tends not to be a lot of wildlife roaming the area except for the odd cat & as I'm quite familiar with the range of sounds they make, I knew it wasn't a cat.

Strangely, all thoughts of the sound disappeared the moment I went back inside, though obviously they have returned to my mind later, thereby allowing me to relay the experience. However, I enjoy the fact that certain moments & the thoughts they contain can exist as their own little microcosm. I don't expect to ever find out what that sound was, but that's OK.