I was woken up by headlights coming up our long driveway. I'm a light sleeper. The driveway is unpaved and I could hear the vehicle making its way slowly over the bumps. The headlights lit up the room. I was afraid. In the unnatural light, I checked my watch. It was 3am.
"Jorge! Jorge! There's someone coming up the driveway!" Snoring.... "Jorge!!!" I shook him hard. "Hurrumph!" He grunts. Panicking, I shove him really hard. "Jorge! Wake up! There's someone here!" Jerky movements and stuttering ensue from the pile of bedclothes at my side.
"Wuzgoingon?" He never looks his best when he first wakes up. Bleary-eyed, disorientated... think Garfield-before-coffee. Somehow he missed the fact that our bedroom was floodlit by headlights. I carefully, trying to show as little panic as possible, explained what was happening. There had been regular reports of mini-bus loaded hoodlums driving up and wiping out entire families.
Ah... hero! He stumbled out of bed and down the passage to the front door. Halfway there, he turns back. "Thank goodness!" I think to myself. Jorge loved to sleep in the pj's nature had provided him with, so naturally, I thought he was coming back to put something more conventional on. "Forgot the torch", he muttered and turned back down the passage.
I snuck up behind him, my curiosity overriding my fear. He parted the curtains in the lounge and shone the torch onto the group standing at the door.
"What do you want?" A natural question to ask our would-be attackers.
"Uh... is this number 35?"
Silence... I think it was a good thing that Jorge's hunting rifle wasn't at hand. We were number 33. It was 3am. It was cold. What on earth were they thinking??
They apologised, stood looking quite stupid for a few minutes, got into their van and drove out. I'm inclined to wonder who else was woken up that night.
This took place some years back. Tat was around 2 at the time. The photo is of Tatiana, Gypsy (the shepherd), and Noble (the great Dane). The sprinklings aren't snow. They're goose feathers. The earthworks in the middle of the lawn were our preparations for a pond for the geese.
