A morning run
I was out jogging before sunrise this morning. Normally, it's a quiet, peaceful time before most of the rest of the world awakens. Not today. You see things in the dark you don't normally see in the daylight.
At one home, the outside light alarm was flashing yellow. I saw a light inside and nothing appeared amiss outside. We have an alarm system, and the light occasionally goes off without anything wrong, I thought. I kept running.
Three doors down, a car's interior light was on. The house was dark. Normally, I would have tried the car door to try to turn the light off, but not this morning. Not with the car up in the driveway, and it pitch black outside. I kept running.
On the next block, I smelled wood smoke. Someone's up early with their fireplace roaring, I thought. Then I remembered those frequent stories about passersbys smelling smoke and calling the fire department. I could see no real signs of life in any of the houses -- it was very early -- I scanned the rooftops for chimney spouting smoke. Nothing. Nope. No. Ahh, yes, there's one. I kept running.
Toward the end, I passed a police car, dome light on, stopped at the end of a street. Inside the officer was filling out paperwork. He didn't notice me, but it made me feel better.
I kept on running.