The Lady in the Red Pajamas

5:30 AM. Sugar stirs, a low growl coming from her throat. Bad dream? No. She jumps up to the window and peers out into the darkness, the growl growing in intensity. "What's wrong, girl?" I whisper. I scootch over and peer into the darkness. I see nothing amiss. "Go back to sleep."

But Sugar keeps staring out the window. In my sleepy fog, I think someone has turned a radio on. I can hear voices. Sugar whimpers. Its not the radio. Someone is talking. Outside. I carefully kneel by the window and pull aside the lacy curtain. I can hear the voices louder now. I strain to see through the murky morning air, rotating my head from left to right.

There. Standing in the middle of the road. A woman smoking a cigarette. Who is she talking to? I don't see anyone else. I stare at the woman, realizing she is wearing bright red pajamas with cows scattered all over them. Her feet sport fuzzy pink slippers. Her mouth is moving but her words make no sense.

"You better come in now." Who is she talking to? A dog perhaps? Did her pet get away from her? I don't see any animals. "Git home before Bob wakes up." I still see no one. She glances in my direction. I drop down out of sight, embarrassed to be caught evesdropping. I can just see over the window ledge. She is looking at the lawn now, flicking the ashes from her cigarette, brushing her tangled hair from her face. The red of her pajamas is startling in the early gray dawn.

"Who told you that? I don't believe it." She starts walking toward Lyell Avenue. I wonder where she lives. I glance behind her to see if someone will appear, but no one does. Maybe she was talking on the phone and I just couldn't see her headset. She is out of sight now. I can faintly hear her inane comments as she waddles down the street.

Sugar settles down and curls up on the end of the bed, the danger past. I lie down, but sleep is far away, waddling down the street after Red Pajamas, trying to unravel a mystery. What a curious beginning for a Tuesday.