For being a woman of a somewhat advanced age, I sleep pretty well. I tend to turn over fairly frequently, and nearly always wake up several times a night but generally go right back to sleep. For the most part, I sleep pretty soundly and Bill sleeps like the dead. Our nights are quiet.

We have been keeping our bedroom window open a bit to let in the cool night air. Our AZ home abuts an open desert space. While I have never seen anything back there except bunnies, I have assumed that there was wildlife that visited the area, particularly at night. It seriously, for example, is not unusual to have javalinas making nocturnal visits to urban areas near dessert terrain. I have yet to see one except in the Phoenix Zoo, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that they pass through our open space area.

Last night somewhere after midnight, I heard a high-pitched barking sound that didn’t sound particularly like a dog. I had heard it the other night as well. I have concluded that it was a coyote involved in something dangerous. I’m not sure if it was the coyote killing another animal or something like a hawk or eagle killing a coyote. Not being Marlin Perkins, I can’t imagine what I’m hearing. But I don’t have to be Marlin Perkins to know it isn’t good news for one of God’s creatures. The noise is very disturbing and I had a bit of trouble going back to sleep, but finally did.

Just before 4 o’clock, my cell phone began making a noise I had never before heard. It was loud and sounded like a fire alarm. What the……? I leaped from my bed, grabbed the phone, and saw that it said

AMBER ALERT

CASA GRANDE, AZ

Now, I’m not proud to tell you that my very first thought was that I didn’t know there were any children in Casa Grande, AZ – only old people. Quickly putting that thought aside, my next thought was how in the world did they get my telephone number? (Whoever “they” is…)

I hit the dismiss button on my phone, recognizing that I wasn’t likely to see a red Chevy van in the quiet solitude of my bedroom, said a prayer for the child or children apparently abducted and for their family, and crawled back under my covers.

Suddenly, Bill’s cell phone begins to do the same thing.

Here’s a funny thing about Bill (who, by the way, had not awakened for my noisy alarm sound and subsequent leaping out of bed). He took the whole incredibly loud alarm sound coming from his cell phone in stride. Without even looking at the screen to see if the world was ending, he simply turned his phone face down so the light wouldn’t bother him.

WHATEVER!

He was foiled, however, because apparently unless you hit the “dismiss” button, it will keep alerting you, which it did about three minutes later. “HIT THE DISMISS BUTTON OR WE’RE IN FOR A LONG NIGHT,” I said through gritted teeth.

Now understand that I am not a bit disturbed by receiving the Amber Alert. Believe me, if I was the parent of an abducted child, I would want everyone in the entire state to be on the lookout for my child. But I admit to being a bit nonplussed that somehow my cell phone is part of some unknown network that is somehow accessible to them. Soon I will be wearing aluminum foil hats.

By the way, I checked this morning to see what had happened, and all is well I’m happy to report. Well, seeings as it ended up being a mother who abducted her children and was threatening to park the van carrying she and the four children on a railroad track to await an oncoming train, perhaps saying all is well isn’t entirely accurate. But she turned herself in and the children are safe. I am continuing to pray.

I am glad most nights are not that eventful.