One Late Night

"Stop. I think this is it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course not. I have to go look around."

I get off the bike and walk till I am right in front of the house. Almost all the lights in the neighbourhood are switched off. Now that the motorcycle engine has died down, the loud sound of crickets fills the air. There is that faint smell of early morning dew. I glance at my watch and it shows 2 30 am.

I look back at him.

"Alright. Go home now."

He smiles, shakes his head and starts the engine.

"Asshole. Atleast say thanks!"

"Thank you bro."

"And?"

"And I owe you a beer"

"You bet."

As he drives off into the distance, for the first time I realize how dark the place is. Suddenly I am not so sure that I am standing in front of the right house. I glance back at the house number. 29. That's correct. A glance at the street name confirms that I am where I should be.

Should I go in through the gate? Maybe not. What if they have burglar alarms? Jump over the wall? Yes why don't I do that. I am sure they never expected a thief to climb over the wall!

I decide to run to the back of the house and climb the wall there. Taking a short running start , I climb it as fast as I can, landing on the other side as softly as possible.

Great. No alarms. Yet.

Facing the back of the house I stand there trying to figure out which window I should be approaching. Suddenly a silhouette appears against one of the curtains and it doesn't take me a second to recognize that its her. I gently tap the window and she pulls the curtains apart and flashes me a huge smile. Carefully she opens the window, making as little sound as possible while I am standing there holding my breath.

I lean on the window sill ready to tell her how much I missed her when she pulls me closer. She whispers in my ear about how much she was looking forward to seeing me and then our faces part for a second, just as they start moving closer again.

At first, its a faint nibbling. A faint poking of sorts at my feet. All of a sudden something is pulling on my pants and its pulling hard! Before I can understand whats happening I am on the ground and two huge dogs are growling at me. The growling eventually grows into loud, synchronized barking as they do everything they can to show me that they are not afraid of me. I am on their land and now they would like for me to pay for it. I try to make menacing movements but it doesn't seem to phase them.

Thankfully, they have let go of my pants. I sprint back towards the wall and realize I am missing my hat. Too late for that.

I scramble over the wall, not caring for any scratches or cuts. On the other side, straightening myself up I look back and my hat comes sailing over the wall. Shes standing there at the window, laughing as if she has seen the funniest thing ever. How typical of her.

I make a personal note to remind her how getting attacked by dogs that I did not know existed is not at all funny.

I put on my hat as the lights in the house start to come on. I take a last look at the window as the curtains close briskly. Turning around I start jogging away into the cold night.