Another Martha's Vineyard story

In my previous post, Martha's Vineyard story, I talked about a camping trip I took with a friend to the island of Martha's Vineyard where we took a bike trip that ended up lasting into the night and we had no lights to get back to our campsite. This post is about what happened at our campsite a night later.

After having wonderful weather for the few days we were on Martha's Vineyard, we were going to get some rain one evening. We knew it was coming and it wasn't going to be a big storm so we were prepared for it. If it's a light rain, I actually enjoy camping out in the rain - as long as the tent doesn't leak and it doesn't last all day. So, when it started raining that evening, I was ready to sleep well. The sound of the drops on the water-proof fly over the tent relaxed me and helped me to go to sleep quickly. Normally, I sleep very soundly and it takes a lot to wake me. But during the night, I felt something moving and it did wake me up. At first I thought it was my friend moving around. Maybe he was looking for something in the tent or maybe he needed to get out of the tent for some reason. So, I let it go and fell back to sleep. Later, I was awakened again when I felt something moving against my sleeping bag at the end where my feet were (near the door). This time, it really woke me because it obviously wasn't my friend. It was something with four little legs. The rain was still falling and the clouds made the night even darker. I could see nothing and was imagining everything from what I could feel. Whatever it was, it moved in quick little motions. I imagined a rat getting into our tent or maybe a squirrel or a chipmunk. While I'd prefer one of the latter two, a rabid chipmunk was not high on my list of desired tent-mates.

I was afraid to move because I didn't want to startle the intruder. I'd seen enough movies about cowboys finding a snake in their sleeping bag to know that you don't move and startle the varmint. So I waited. It wandered around but never left my feet for long. It walked around them and over them. Once it seemed to settle down on them for quite a while. I was going nuts. How could I let this - whatever - sniff around me as it decided what to do with me? I started to inch my hand out of my sleeping bag to get my glasses and/or a flashlight. But I'd zipped up too tight and couldn't do it without unzipping by bag. I pulled it down one tooth at a time. Finally I was able to slip my hand out but as I felt around for my glasses or the flashlight, I knocked something over and the intruder flinched. Then it started to slowly walk up toward my face - on top of me! I didn't have long to think, I had to prepare for when it got up to my chest. I didn't want to thrash around to get the light and incite it to move faster so I waited. I knew where it was and set my hands where I thought it was going.

It was up to my knees. Then it was up to my waist. When it got to my stomach, I let loose a yell, shot out my hands and threw it against the door of the tent. Then I sat up yelling to my friend to watch out, "There's a rat in the tent." I grabbed for the flashlight. I shown it around looking for the beast and my friend yelled, "You big baby, it's just a kitten!" just as my light caught its frightened face looking up at me. "How did it get in here?" I yelled. My friend said he heard it pawing at the door when it was raining and he felt sorry for it and let it in. He didn't want to wake me up and assumed the kitten would just fall asleep and not bother us. He hadn't counted on my usual moving of my feet and legs while I sleep. I must have disturbed it and started it on its midnight prowling.

I can't remember if I was mean and made him put it out or if I relented and left it stay in until the morning. I hate to admit it but I think I made him put it out. That was a long time ago before I became a cat lover. I'd act differently now. I'd still be afraid and make a fuss but, if it turned out to be a cat, I'd let it stay in the tent. At least until the rain stopped.