It was a long winter night and the cold had settled in over the oldest district of a small Southern California town established in the heyday of citrus farming.  We tucked ourselves in under blankets and quilts with just our noses peaking out for the occasional breath of fresh frigid air. The chill clung to the old lathe and plaster walls and permeated to the core of the old structures.  Sporadically, throughout the night, gas furnaces would kick on and blast heated air throughout the rooms. The heat would rise and dissipate crushed by the long hours of darkness and chilliness. 

As usual, I was up after just a few hours of sleep.  Noises would wake me. Stirrings of a kitten and a dog. As I made my way down the hallway, I saw the kitten sitting in the hall in the dark. Alert, poised in the doorway looking out into the dark dining room. Seeing feline visions of an Egyptian netherworld or whatever it was that kittens saw that we could not see. A landscape of furnishings for running, jumping and hiding under, a parkour for cats. 

The kitten and dog loved to play night games. I heard them almost everynight running through the house. Joyfully chasing one another from room to room.  The dogs heavy paws thudding across the old fir floors.  Sound effects that made patterns that indicated jumps and gallops.  Circling through the two largest rooms in the tiny old house, brushing through a beaded curtain creating a woody clicking similar to chats being counted.  

The dog is always happy.  Pleased by almost everything. Gentle, a big soft ball of  brown furry velveteen. Each day and through the dark night, she remains gentle and sweet.  Only on guard when she hears something foreign or unknown. If a stranger comes near the door.  I lay back and let those thoughts wash over me.  Thinking of the sweet dog is relaxing and my nerves let go of any constriction and I’m submerged in memories of hugs, warmth, loving people and pets.  Simple things that happen everyday that make me happy and I find myself smiling in the dark.  

I think of getting a puppy.  Bringing even more Love into our home.  I imagine how the three of them; an old sweet dog, a teenage cat and baby dog would play and take care of each other.  

I felt the kitten jump onto my bed and drop something lightly onto my chest. It was too dark to see, so I reach down and felt a small soft ball of felt that we use to play catch during daylight hours.  I didn’t want to wake up and start playing catch, because then I would be really awake and miss out on long hours of luxurious nothing that awaited me for the rest of the night.  

It goes on like this, night after night. Sometimes I have to shut the door, so I don’t hear them and they can’t come in, or I would never get even a few hours of sleep.  Let them play in the night. With the dreams and the spirits that drift through the old house.