When he carefully rounded another corner of the house he heard a shuffle, a snuffle and then a crash. Jeremy stopped. His heart pounded. Who or what was that?
There came another scraping noise. Could it be a robber sneaking around in the dark?
Jeremy felt scared but couldn’t help himself, he had to find out. He peeked out between some tall dahlia flowers. The garbage can had toppled over and beside it sat something black. It wasn’t a cat, it was much bigger. A bear? “Not here,” he thought.
“They belong in the forest.” He crept a bit closer, the animal moved. Then he saw the mask on its face: a raccoon.
Jeremy let out a sigh of relief. Only a raccoon. He quietly called, “Shoo! Go away!”
But the animal came closer. Jeremy waved his arms. “No, no! Get going!”
Finally the raccoon ambled off. Jeremy wondered what else might be creeping around at night. He looked up at the sky. The clouds had disappeared.
“Good thing you’re back, coat-hanger moon,” Jeremy said. “But I think I better go inside. It’s getting cold out here, and I don’t want to meet any bigger animals than that racoon. Good night.”
Then he heard a sound. Bang! Oh no! The back door had slammed shut. He stood very still. What now? “How am I going to get back into the house?” The cold wind made him shiver. He thought about his warm, cozy bed. Suddenly he remembered. His bedroom window was still open. The moon’s light bounced off the window pane. Jeremy looked up. “Too high to climb into my room,” he whispered. What could he do? Then he saw a glint in the flower bed. The footstool! Mom had forgotten to bring it in after washing windows.
Jeremy quickly set it down and crawled up. He had to heave himself higher to reach the windowsill. His knee hurt but he didn’t care. With a grunt he slid through the opening, found a foothold onto his chair and closed the window.
Whew, what an adventure! Jeremy would have never believed that there were so many dangers in his own yard during a quiet night. Once more he looked at the moon.
“Thanks for showing me the footstool, coat-hanger moon. Maybe when I’m old enough I’ll be an astronaut and visit you.”
Now Jeremy was tired, he crawled under the blanket, gave a big yawn and fell asleep.
