The other night I was awake at 4:30. I’m not sure if it was the pattering of rain outside, the occasional car or the heavy breathing of Audrey I could hear from all the way down the hall. Whatever it was, I was awake and not settling easily.

Then I heard a noise that was extremely unsettling – the distinct sound of crinkling insulation coming from the attic directly above our bedroom. Something was up there.

Immediately I thought of the venting holes under the eaves of the roof. Sometime during the winter, two caps had fallen out of them, leaving a hole right up into the attic. I saw a bird fly into there last week and who knows what else could be settling into our attic.

I got out of bed and went upstairs. I quickly noticed that the small door that led from the finished part of the 3rd floor to the attic was ajar. So whatever was in the attic could also now be in our house. Wonderful.

In the attic I turned on the light and crept towards the area where I heard the noise. There was nothing. Everything was quiet. Then, as I got closer, a huge animal suddenly darted across the attic in a blur of gray fur. It took me a second to process what I just saw. It was our cat.

I have no idea what he was doing up there, but I guess the door to the attic came open and he decided to explore. I wasn’t sure where he went, but he was heading towards the door into the house, so I closed it behind me and went back to bed.

In the morning I told Anne about the incident and went to work. As we were eating dinner that evening, I asked her if she had seen the cat. She said no. I immediately went up to the attic and opened the door. Sure enough, the dumb cat was still in there. He didn’t run out like I thought he had. He sheepishly wandered out and I jammed the door shut.

I still need to get those caps replaced.