Where the Wild Things Are

           At night, a new wilderness comes alive in my neighborhood. The life around me is breathtaking. The stars come out and shine so brightly because we do not have the city to blind the luminosity of the stars. Stars like the small and big dipper, Orion and Aries, Hercules and Pegasus, and so many other constellations. But, it is not only the stars that catch my eye, even more so it is the moon. When it is full, I love taking a hike up the mountains to see the moon climb above them. One of the best memories I have was when I was hiking with my pup and we were just engulfed by the calmness all around us being illuminated by the moon that was coming out and seeing a shooting star fly past us. The neighborhood becomes so exquisite at night.

            Nighttime really is when the neighborhood comes alive. It is when the neighbors come together around the fire pit, when we chat over some smores, when we talk about life and politics. It is always the perfect hour to tell spooky stories, sing loudly like crazy people, and dance like there is no tomorrow. Nighttime is also the time when our night neighbors come out of their daily slumber. It is when the coyotes come out to play, when the horses start walking over to the residential houses, when the nocturnal animals come out and fly about. Coyotes cry their whiny songs. They sound like little children yapping at each other up on the mountains. Sometimes I can hear them like whispers in my ear when I walk about, but it’s when I’m lying in my bed with my window cracked open when I can really hear them. I can also hear the hooting of the owls. They say that when an owl lands on the roof of your house that you will be lucky for the rest of the year, but I can never find them, I can just hear them. You can always tell when the horses are coming to visit.  They click and clack over the pavement, snorting and neighing at one another, and then all of a sudden, the noise stops. That’s when you know it is snack time.

The best night neighbors, though, are the bats because they love the hospitality of the neighborhood. One night, I stepped out to get some fresh air and by the time I came back, a bat had followed me in. Well, I imagine that the bat just wanted to surprise my family and insisted on staying. It was quite the amusing hour trying to convince Mr. Bat that we were tired and wanted to go to bed. He was a very sneaky bugger, he knew how to hide in the crevices of the house, but finally he left. To this day, my family still jokes about him and we yell out: “BATMAN, dun nun nun nun nun!”

My neighborhood is full of surprises. We always have stories to tell and sights to admire and cherish always. My neighborhood is wild.