Last night the dog slept upstairs on the bed with me in the air conditioning. This morning when I got up the dog went to the stairs and started barking. I couldn’t imagine what he was barking at, but he does bark at the dogs across the street. Maybe he heard them.
It took me several minutes to get him to go downstairs and he kept barking and barking. Finally, I went to pick him up so he could see more clearly that my grandson was sleeping on the sofa and that there was nothing to worry about.
Except that It wan’t my grandson on the sofa. It was a man I’ve never seen before.
I went back upstairs and woke up The Wife. I wanted a witness that I wasn’t crazy or sleepwalking. She said call 911. I did. I went back to the stairs. The man was gone.
The police showed up quickly, the police station being less than half a block away. They said they had had a report of a man disrobing last night and so they went to check the alley in back of the house. No sign. The police were walking away when the man reappeared in the house, saying he wasn’t violent, that he had had a concussion and that he was confused and didn’t know where he was or how he got here. He went out on the porch, talked with the police, they handcuffed him, and took him up the street.
As I told the officer, I don’t think this is the first time such a thing has ever happened on Hamilton Street. He smiled and agreed.
Living 18 inches away from my neighbors, I have never been worried about security here. My biggest worry is exactly what happened: Somebody confused or drunk or both, causing some alarm but no real harm. We always lock the front door, but I believe yesterday was a rare lapse.
P.S., Good dog, Ryder!
== PT
Whattayagonnado 
We are sloppy in that regard. We live at the end of a 2/10 mile driveway with 4 houses before anyone comes to ours. My sister-in-law has two annoying dogs – – but they do keep us informed. That is a scary experience. Hope it doesn’t recur.