The Sixth Sense

That animals have a sixth sense is well documented.  Everybody has at least one friend whose pet pot-bellied pig has saved her life and the story of the dog that jumps between the family baby and the enormous rattlesnake is legendary.  This is why when I see something going on in the pet community, I take notice.

Since Halloween night, neighbors with indoor cats have been complaining that they are trying, and succeeding, to sneak outside.  Open the front door even a crack and the black cat will somehow jet between your legs and leap out into the great outdoors. Approach your house with armloads of groceries, you will enter while the cat simultaneously exits. You are packing up your family to go on vacation – and you plan to take the cat – when she jumps out of your arms and heads directly for the woods behind the house.  The scenarios are as varied as the animals themselves but they carry that common thread, feline freedom. 

What is behind these phenomena?  Clearly these kitties are sensing evil and trying to escape.  What are they attuned to that I’m missing?  Earthquakes?  Fires?  Floods?

Perhaps the answer is obvious.  Daylight savings time ends this weekend and here, on the edge of the Eastern Standard Zone, twilight already is occurring around 5:30. When we set our clocks back an hour, dark will speed at us like a freight train coming out of a tunnel.  Late afternoon will transition into early evening and then turn into night so fast that naptime will seamlessly blend into bedtime.  By 7:30 it will have been dark for so long that we will think it’s time for bed.  Nobody, not me, not a child, not even a cat likes to be tricked into going to bed early.

The Doctor's Appointment

Monday I had a doctor's appointment in Rock Hill, an easy thirty minute drive from here.  I left the house with an hour to spare and drove in light traffic to the medical building next to the hospital without the aid of a GPS or Map Quest.  Normally this kind of wild spontaneous adventure is difficult for me but this time there was celestial intervention in the form of blue signs with large H's on them accompanied by arrows pointing the way for me.  I took the scenic route, but arrived with time to spare.  As a bonus, I found a spot to park that was in total shade - the only one in the entire lot. Clearly this was my lucky day!


The waiting room was not even half full when I got there and signed in. The receptionist was humming and smiling, obviously in a good mood.  Things were going better than usual for me, so well in fact that I was spooked.  I began to hear the theme from "The Twilight Zone" in my head.  Why were things going so well?  It was like I had stepped into someone else's life.  Perhaps the life of the woman who actually had the appointment this afternoon?  It was about this time that the receptionist broke the news to me that my appointment was scheduled for tomorrow. 


The question then became, do I calmly sit in the waiting room for 24 hours and 20 minutes or simply go home?  I chose option B, go home.


On the way home, I decided to treat myself to a cherry amaretto ice cream cone at Sayago's in Baxter Village.  When I got there I was able to pull directly into a parallel parking spot right in front of the store.  Maybe it really was my lucky day! ...Or not.  Because the doors were both locked when I tried them and then I noticed the "Closed Mondays" sign painted on their window.  I heaved a sigh of relief.  I was back living my own life again.