The compound was quiet when I returned to it. There was a small fire going in our fire pit, providing minimal illumination in the common area while shadows smothered the details of all but the very closest objects. The light breeze that made it past the wooden palisade was not enough to perturb the fire or transform the cold night air into the bitter bite of winter. The fire would keep the night watch company and a bit more comfortable during their shift; it was an unpleasant but necessary task.

The night watch was a rotating duty covering the deepest hours of the dark. The primary responsibility was to watch the fires, keeping them properly safe and lit. Occasionally we’d have critter incursions but we’d not seen anything truly threatening yet, what with the dogs helping us watch and the cats making their nightly hunting forays. Coyotes and wolves weren’t a problem for us yet and unless the weather took a severe turn for a long period, I doubted that they would be.

I had a few hours left before I had my turn out here. They had tried to leave me off the list but I insisted on inclusion. We already exempted heavily pregnant women and women with newborn infants, so I would be taking my turn in a few hours and I needed some rest before then. I slipped into my camper as quietly as possible, removed my coat and boots in the flickering light of the stove and slid carefully into bed.

Mouse was half awake and snuggled back against me muttering somnolently in her half-sleeping state. Quiet comfort was the order of business so I simply held her close and drifted in to join her just over the edge of sleep. I wandered there in a blissful doze for what was either hours or minutes before the soft rapping came at my door, calling me to watch. Mouse made as if to come with me but I bade her to sleep and dream sweetly. Even if I was a little tired and grumpy in the morning, sweet mannered Mouse would make my day so much the better. I pulled on my boots, a heavy sweater and my coat before I slipped out into the cold night and quietly called for Brin, insuring my hours on watch wouldn’t be lonely.

As usual I took the dreaded death watch, to me it simply meant that I was getting up a few hours early in the morning. I could understand why so many dreaded it, because in the long nights of winter the sun still wouldn’t be up when you were charged with making your wakeup rounds. However in the summer weather you got to watch the sun come up and enjoy the cool morning air in peace and solitude. It was one of the simple joys in life.

Tonight I expected to have a couple of hours on my own until the breakfast crew showed up. I wanted to do some thinking and play with my drone a bit; it had been actual months since I last got to use my own toy. I was relieving Holder on this night and he sat up for a while to chat with me. He was still a young guy and was more than a little confused by what had happened with Mouse.

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I took the time to patiently explain the situation and events to him and you could hear his voice change as he realized what had actually happened from Mouse’s point of view. He hadn’t grown up with movies and books all around; his only real exposure to the opposite sex was once a week at church or dealing with his family. It was quite obvious that his female siblings did not deign to discuss their social life with their brother, no real surprise there.

He wandered away to bed after a bit, leaving Brin and myself alone with the night. The noises of the summer night were all but gone, with the cold weather coming on you could hear the trees creaking and the sounds of cattle and horses grumbling in the night. Other than that it was silent, dark and silent, giving me plenty of time to contemplate my current challenges and re-examine my solutions.

I made my rounds and peeked in on the fires, everybody was nice and cozy warm; I’d restoke the fires in about an hour but for now everything was running perfectly. A fresh pot of coffee was my next order of business and I refilled the broth pot so nice warm soup was available for me and the early risers. I wasn’t sure what the broth was that night but it was tasty as usual, with lots of meat and veggie flavor but the meat remained a mystery. It could have been possum for all I knew; some of the guys swore by possum and trapped it special. I preferred my possums alive as they are great mousers and insect eaters with a preference for fleas and ticks; that’s a good friend to have around your homestead.

With the four o’clock chores done I took the time to send the drone up. We wouldn’t have light for hours yet but this was prime hours for troublemakers of both the four legged and two legged variety. A thermo-imaging sweep around the compound showed nothing. I swept the town, port and herds as well; it was a quiet night and trouble had found elsewhere to spend its efforts this night. I could see the night watch at each location, the people sitting close to the watch fire and all seemed to be alert. Most wild animals were tucked up in their dens staying warm or beginning their winter-long sleep.

The owls were the grand exception, sweeping the area looking for stray rodents of any sort. Cats had to be wary of them – well, most cats did. Our Maine Coon cats were too big and too damn violent for the owls to bother with.

I stowed the drone away and enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee before the morning crew awoke. My peaceful interlude was about to end and I regretted that more than a little. Next thing I knew, it was time to stoke the fires to full life and let the day begin.

Daybreak was still a couple of hours away.