Odd scene last night at my campsite. . . It’s a little after midnight and I’m laying there in my sleeping bag with Mini Scaredy the feral cat, just about ready to go to sleep, when I hear voices from off in the distance. . . And the voices keep moving closer and closer to me. Then I notice the white light of two flashlights from about 100 yards down the trail. I watch as the two flashlights head up the trail in the direction of my campsite. As they got closer to me, I could make out their voices. It was a male and a female. And they sounded pretty young. Probably a couple of college students. And they were laughing and giggling and goofing around and obviously having a good time as they made their way up the trail.
I had no idea what the hell they were doing traipsing around in the darkness of the Berkeley hills well after midnight. I mean, people rarely come up to my secluded neck of the woods in the daytime, let alone in the middle of the night. But I figured they were probably just having some fun, maybe looking for a private place to make out, or get high, or whatever. So I wasn’t particularly alarmed, like I usually would be when strange people are lurking in the vicinity of my campsite late at night.
Eventually they get to within about 20 yards from where I am. I can tell they haven’t spotted me yet, laying there in the darkness. But I figure I better do something before they’re right on top of me. So I called out, in a stern voice: “WHO IS IT?? I’M HERE!!”
They let out a yelp. And then turned on their heels and went running back the other way, back down the trail. And I watched as the two flashlights bobbed and weaved as they made their way down the trail at a very fast speed. It was actually kind of comical. I guess I had inadvertently scared the shit out of them (you never KNOW what kind of creatures might be lurking in the deep dark woods). Anyways, they headed off down the trail, back in the direction of the road, and disappeared into the night.
And I curled up in my sleeping bag, along with my noble feral cat, and went to sleep. The End.
Ace Backwords Photos 