I’m not typically afraid of the dark, which is a good thing, since Mel works an occasional night, leaving me home alone. I mean, living in Wyoming, if I scream, neighbors from probably three houses around us will come running with their guns drawn, and as my old high school librarian would tell you, I have a good set of lungs.

However, there has been recent talk about the old prison being haunted (thanks a lot Kristin. LOL) I knew they did ghost tours on Halloween, and I’ve been in the old prison for a tour. Never doing that again. This town is proud of its scary heritage, but since we only live a few blocks from the place, I’m not enchanted.

So last night after dark, Mel was gone and I had trash to take out and mail to pick up. I don’t like people seeing me in my nighties, so I didn’t turn the light on when I went outside. Never mind that we have rattlesnakes in these parts, and that they like to crawl onto warm concrete after the sun goes down–I didn’t think of that until later. Never mind that sometimes bears and mountain lions have been known to come through town. I just wanted to get this done and get to bed.

So I took out the trash and grabbed the mail and turned back toward the house when I thought I heard something. At this point, I would ordinarily ignore the sound and keep walking until I got inside, but then I SAW movement from the corner of my eye.

After a short and silent intake of breath, I turned. Something was definitely in the shadows. Not coming toward me, but not going away from me. And it was tall. This time the intake of breath was a gasp. I backed toward the door. But then I focused and got real. What hangs around our house at all hours of the day and night?

No, it wasn’t him. He was at work.

Not him, either, but it was four-legged, so we’re getting closer.

Here we go. This guy. Mel finally found an earlier photo of the intruder. He was standing on our front lawn, shaking his antlers at me. I would have stayed and chatted, but it was time for bed and sometimes these guys can get a bit aggressive if they think you might feed them. I did not.

There are a lot of scary things going on in our world today, and we don’t always know what to expect. We can, however, always trust an unknown future to a known God.