Shadows in the Night

 Are we born programmed to be cautious or afraid of shadows? I've often hoped that was the reason for my fruitcake-ish behavior over the decades--mainly during the young years. 

The chair at my childhood bedroom desk, would often become a creature watching me huddled in bed, especially when clothing was draped over it. Or if I forgot to slide my closet shut, I'd wake to creatures fluttering out and had to pull the covers over my head to keep them from ... coming to get me? Hard to say, with a small brain seeing a threat and not ready to listen to reason.

But there's one night that stands out. I may have reached adolescence, a bit of a guess. What I do remember, was the shadow on my bedroom curtains--no doubt about it, there was a person in a cape and a Dick Tracy fedora, right outside my window. 

My first thought--how to alert my parents, while frozen to my bed? I began to hit my hand against the wall separating my room and their closet, "whump, whump, whump". And then Dad, in Mother's robe, appeared at my door, "what's wrong?", he may have asked. All I could do was raise my arm and point at the window. 

I remember Dad starting to explain that there must be an easy explanation--right before he darted outside to see what in the world that shadow could be. When he returned, he was chuckling and filled me in on how my Uncle Pete's horse, Dutch, we were boarding, was near our mercury vapor light, with his rear hooves on an incline and ears just visible above his rump. Dutch the vampire horse!