Pitch Black Nights

Pitch Black is a sci-fi Vin Diesel thriller (circa 2000) in which space travelers land on a planet that orbits three suns. The planet has perpetual daylight except during a one-month eclipse once every 22 years. And when darkness does fall, things get crazy. Creatures that survive only in the dark emerge from their dens, ravenous after 22 years of hibernation. This does not bode well for the space travelers, of course.

We've got our own Pitch Black situation here on the farm. I'm being a little dramatic, but the Wrangler and I have been marveling at the level of activity outside once night falls. At dusk the coyotes start their radio show; the howls, growls, and yips tell a story. Sometimes the coyotes sound happy and excited, as if they're at a party. Sometimes they fight--nasty, terrible-sounding skirmishes that end with a lone coyote crying in the dark. As we settle into bed, we hear the comforting hoot of a spotted owl and, now and then, an odd rustle in the bushes outside our window. In the middle of the night, Dash growls when he hears the banshee shriek of a screech owl. Our motion-detecting flood lights are activated, and as I peer through the window I see a small animal dart down the hill.

By sunrise the world is quiet again. The Wrangler sees remnants of the past night's multiple battles: a dead mouse by the gate, animal tracks in the garden, a fresh burrow. But the red-tailed hawk soars gracefully overhead (the farm seems to be located right in the middle of his territory) and all is calm.

Unlike the space travelers in Pitch Black, I'm unafraid of what goes down on the farm after dark. In the city, nocturnal clanks and shuffles on the patio were cause for alarm. The Wrangler kept a golf club by the side of the bed. (Can you see him confronting an intruder? "Stop or I'll swing!") Out here in the sticks, nighttime stirrings feel natural. If animals can't live in the country, then where can they live? When we moved in, they probably sighed, "Well, there goes the neighborhood."

Amid all the country noises, I've never slept so soundly.