Hairy, Scary Monster!!!

As a prelude to my story, I must share about a cat that we had when I was about 14. Her name was, Tia, and she was an inside and outside cat. She had this terrible tendency to bring in birds that she killed. One time even bringing in a squirrel face...yes, that'll stick with you for life! Tia liked my bed a lot and one night I was sound asleep and a terrible thunderstorm woke me up. As I rolled from my left side to my back I landed in something goopy and wet. I remember thinking "oh great, Tia came in from the rain and got my bed soaked" until I felt around and my hand landed on a small thing. (Keep reading! It's soooo worth it!!!) It being pitch black in my room, I screamed on the top of my lungs and threw the object as hard as I could across the room and heard the thud as it hit the dresser and landed on the floor. Tia jumped from my bed as I stood up screaming and Sharon hit the light to see my back and bed covered in blood. Tia grabbed the object and pulled it under my bed and by this time almost the entire house was in my room and I'm hollering "dead squirrel" at my Dad. Daddy looks under the bed and laughs and peeks his head up and says, "Tia's having kittens under the bed!" What? Oh thank goodness it's just kittens and not...HOLY COW!! I THREW ONE ACROSS THE ROOM!!!...Fear not, it did not die (phew!) but everyone teased me and said that kitten never could walk a straight line for the rest of it's life! =) haha!

...Now onto last night! So here it is 3:14am and I'm soundly sleeping when Gracie lets off a shriek and scares me outta my life! I jump from the bed and race into her room. It's completely dark and I bend down to the lower bunk and peek my head in between the bed railing and the top bunk. I see her sitting up in her usual spot towards the back and I coaxed her over. "Come here, Gracie, lay down, it's OK, Pooka's here" She didn't budge. I felt for her blanket as my eyes adjusted slowly and I saw it on the floor by the opening at the end of her bed. I reached down for it and my hand closed around something hairy, warm and breathing. I jumped up as fast as I could and ran up the first two steps of Seth's top bunk ladder. I then began loudly hissing that Gracie come to me now! I could grab her if she came to the edge by the ladder and we could both climb up into Seth's bunk, pull in the ladder and sit there to be rescued. Gracie is not coming and this thing begins to move! I think it's a small raccoon or possum. I am panicked more and am pleaded for Gracie to "come here, NOW!! Pooka needs you!!!" This thing turns and moves towards me, I am freaking out now!! All of the sudden, it stops...stands up, reaches for me and says, "Pooka.".... OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hop down from the ladder (feeling like a totally idiot!) and scoop her up!!!! It was GRACIE!!! I had felt her crazy hair, part of her warm face and had thought it was an animal!! (I really must get her a haircut...) I knelt down and put her back in bed trying not to laugh as I looked over and saw with better adjusted eyes, just the bare white wall and blanket from Seth's bunk dangling down the back, and not in fact, Gracie sitting there! I grabbed the cover from the floor and covered her walking out of the room with a picture in my head of 5 people laughing HYSTERICALLY at me. June, Phil, Sharon, Donna and Suz! It was now 3:26am and as I laid back down I laughed into my pillow and thanked the good LORD that this happened now and not in Dec sometime, for I surely would've had the baby right there!!!!!