Woke suddenly in the middle of the night

I woke suddenly in the middle of the night to what sounded like a fist rapping against one of my front windows. My hand reached for the phone by the bed. A new development these past few months; I cannot sleep unless I know the phone rests by the head of my bed. I open the phone to read just past two'o'clock in the morning and sit upright. Once again, I hear what sounds like a fist rapping against one of my front windows.



This is the nightmare, the nightmare that has plagued me since childhood. I lay in bed and someone breaks in. I can hear them. And I can't scream. And then I realize it's a dream. And I try to speak to wake the dream. But I can't wake. I'm trapped in the dream.



But this isn't a dream. I listen for the sound again. I listen for footsteps. I hear nothing and finally I go to the window and look out. I see nothing, and I go back to bed.



Opened the door this morning and half expected a note; "Cunt" or "Whore" or "Bitch". But nothing.



Walked the dog and my neighbor June asks about my birdbath. Someone stole her birdbath last night. The one she likes to look out at through her kitchen window. And I tell her about the sounds I heard last night. And that must have been it. They tried to take the top off my birdbath, and the water splashed, they dropped the top back on, and the top rattled as it settled round and round back onto the base.



Relief.