Shhhh!

Tonight the moon is more than half full.  That cold pearl light sharpens the dark shadows that lay across my path and the glow washes past the field that I must cross.  It is the only light I have as I set out on my journey.


Did you hear that?  It is the muggy warning call of the owl.  He sees and hears all.  What is he trying to tell me as my feet crunch the leaves covering this narrow path?  I hear nothing else except the ground fog breathing cautiously below and hiding my way as it flows behind the tree trunks.  The air smells damp and dead and of black mold.  The earth is old and wet which I notice as my heel slips on the downside of the path.  Then a tree root catches my foot causing me to stumble against a craggy oak.  I have bumped my head and as I reach to rub it, I touch a web and brush it with panic from my forehead.  I turn but first must adjust my shoe before returning back on the path.


Tonight it is THE night and I cannot turn back.  All of the night creatures will be there waiting for me with their glowing eyes and sudden screeching music.  Even now they crouch low and wait to pounce as the moon slides behind a cloud for a brief time.  This is their hour of power.


At last I have reached the edge of the mowed field bathed in the last of the moon light and I see the barn up ahead.  What a perfect night for a Halloween Barn Dance, I think as I wrap my scarf closer about my neck!