A Treasure Found at Home

last night the moon was super bright as i went to sleep. the light came in through my skylight and cast shadows on my bed. with my glasses off it looked full, even though my calendar says that shouldn’t happen for another couple days. i fell asleep feeling happy and peaceful. i dreamed about exploring new places and these strange plants.

at 2:30 am i was woken up by a scream. not a playing around, calling friend, or angry argument scream — in other words it wasn’t yelling, it was Screaming. i wasn’t really sure if it was real but it didn’t seem to fit in my dream either.

then i heard her again. this time she said something. i think she said, ‘he has a gun’ or ‘he’s got a gun’. i heard a car horn, and a car driving off? driving by?

i called emergency.

they called back a while later. they found some people on the next block, but not on mine. now, in the morning, i wonder if the noise was really from the skylight — from the front of the building and not the back.

the police dispatcher said they had another call from my building, too. thank goodness! it makes me feel better about humanity in the face of something awful.

i can’t help wondering what happened. was she kidnapped? did the honking car interrupt something or was that a result of some struggle? i heard some other noises from her, but nothing from the “he” she was screaming about it. she got quieter, but she sounded so frightened.

i wanted to come down and get my computer to see if anyone was online, but i waited till i saw the officer’s search lights (which were confirmed by the call back from emergency) before i felt safe enough to come down the stairs.

i didn’t get back to sleep for an hour. i lay there trying to do tonglen for the woman, and just couldn’t. i couldn’t. for the first time in a long, long time i wished i had a boyfriend. i wanted someone who’s “job” it was to wake up if i called in the middle of the night if i just needed to talk.

i want this to have been a personal thing so i can feel safe walking in my neighbourhood. but i want it to be random so she can have gotten away and he didn’t follow her.

i want to know that woman is ok. i want to know she made it home, to a safe home, where no one hits her or pulls weapons on her.

i want us all to be ok.

a handful of us went on a full moon hike yesterday after work. i’d asked for suggestions. as this used to be a more ritualistic experience i figured someone knew something about where to go.

i got a few replies, all asking me to tell them where it would be.

oh…

i picked a trail that said, “The path descends into a mature bay forest, follows the contour for about half a mile, and then ascends to the botanically rich upper trail.” sounds good, yes? i thought so. some trees, but an upper trail where we could see the moon.

well, turns out by “botanically rich” they also mean tree-covered. we hardly saw the moon at all, but when we did it was beautimous. hiking in the dark, though was really fun.

i scared some small animal, i think, at some point, and it scared me back. i heard some small growling from the bush next to me when i stopped. boy, did i jump! everyone else (there were five of us total) asked what happened and encouraged me to come on over just a little closer when i said i thought i heard growling. then i had to explain that it really was sort of more like chipmunk growling. whatever, man! those buggers probably have really sharp claws! and rabies!

there are, of course, no pictures. it was too dark. i tried to take one of the absolutely beautiful sunset and backlit trees, but they all came out blurry. instead you’ll all just have to start your own moonlight hikes.