Off and on the last few weeks, we've seen a cat in the backyard. At first it seemed to be just checking out the neighborhood, but a couple of weeks ago we spotted it just under the edge of the deck, not moving for several hours. When I went out to check on its condition (thinking perhaps it was ill or injured) it moved up against the wall of the house, too far away for me to reach it or touch it.

We haven't seen it since in daylight, and it's no longer under the deck. But last night I could hear a kind of moaning from outside. It was fully dark, and I couldn't spot anything from the window. After a bit we went to bed, and almost immediately, both cats were jostling for a place on the window sill. Lady was hissing with vigor and serious intentions, and Grinch began his signature combination scream/howl. Since this is directly at the foot of our bed, we naturally enough tried to break up the confrontation, which from our point of view, would come to naught in any event, since our two were inside and it, whatever it was, was outside.

This was not a popular move on our part. Somewhat unusually for me (what do I mean, somewhat? I'm never angry enough to shout at my cats) I began clapping my hands, shouting at them, ordering them down from the window. Lady got down, but Grinch began his scream in a higher pitch. I reached for him, and he jumped away from my arms, and raked my left forearm open with several shallow cuts. When Mr W turned on the light, we discovered I was bleeding profusely. At that point, we chased them both to the basement and shut the door.

In the light of day, I have three bruises on my arm. Nothing is painful or swollen. When I opened the door to downstairs this morning, I was greeted quite respectfully by two contrite faces.

Everyone has been on their best behavior all day, no meowing, no demands for attention. There's no evidence in the yard of whatever it might have been. I still kind of wonder if that cat we saw a week or so ago IS ill somewhere, and if so, I would try as hard as I could to get medical attention. But my soft heart absolutely draws the line at jungle confrontations on MY windowsill, near MY bed, after MY bedtime.

However, with the adrenalin pumping like mad, I did get several chapters read in next week's book discussion book before I slept.