I walked out on the back steps because it was dusk. Light came out of the kitchen windows. I heard and saw a shape make to flee the scene - a cat, perhaps? It stopped with only its tail showing from behind the borage, which vaguely resembles a three foot hedge. I make squeaky noises at it as one would at a cat, meanwhile noting the striped tail. That tail stood still, as if considering, and then the creature emerged from behind the flowers and peered at me from a black mask, tiny specks of eyes glinting at me. We looked at each other for a while. I talked to it.

Eventually, it started walking. I remembered when we were kids, home alone, and there was a raccoon outside by the steps. We were afraid it had rabies and called the police. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I don't remember if it had rabies or not, but it was a small town, the kind of place where police were used to calls like that. Why i remembered: it was walking strangely. Not in an ursine moseyroll, nor a feline slink, but a sidejerking irregular gait. Was there something wrong with this one?

And then i realized it was hunting. Each twitch to the side was a little pounce with its outstretched pawhands into the grass. Occasionally, it would stop with its hands buried in the grass, seeming to work deeper. Sometimes in the dark it would bring something up to its face and seem to examine it, then munch down. It did a random tour of the backyard, round and forth. A housemate turned off the kitchen light. My eyes adjusted. I talked to the raccoon some more, and it looked at me, then got on with its work. This could have been the guy that slaughtered the chicks. But it didn't matter. I was okay with it.