Interrupted Sleep

The weather is in the high 80's, so all my windows are open. Last night I woke to the sound of a woman's scream. The bedside clock glowed 12:20 a.m. I wasn't certain if the scream was real or part of a dream. As I reached for the lamp, the scream sounded again. I decided against turning the light on and grabbed the telephone instead. I heard a man's voice, but his words were unintelligible. I heard the woman say, "Stop! You're frightening me!" Finger poised above the 9 on my telephone dial, I peeked out the window. The housing development I live in is U-shaped. My home is in the middle so both the front and back yards are on the street. Across my backyard, across the street, and across the yard of the people who live across the street, stands a 10 foot high block wall. Beneath the street light I could clearly see a man -- beer bottle in hand -- walking the top of the wall. The woman, also with a beer in her hand, stood in the middle of the street. I put the phone down and went back to bed. An hour later I woke to a wailing siren. Again I looked out the window. The man was still on the wall, but sitting now. The girl, still in the middle of the street, was telling a police officer, "He climbed over that guys pick-up (she pointed to the SUV in my neighbor's driveway) and onto the wall, then said he wasn't coming down until I apologized for calling him an idiot." The police officer responded dryily, "Don't apologize." The fire department arrived with a ladder. The man climbed down off the wall and went for a ride in the back of the police car. As soon as my bedroom stopped flashing red-blue-red-blue I went back to sleep. So ended a very lively week. I am hoping the week ahead provides nothing but boredom.