It was a dark and stormy night

I found this story challenge via Foolery’s blog. It seems to be a weekly event at San Diego Momma. Fun!

It was a dark and stormy night. 

Scratching sounds were coming from the window nearest her bed. She tried to convince herself that it was a branch from the almond tree. Those branches were too high to scratch at that window, but maybe one broke in the storm. Yes, she was sure that was it. Probably.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed that the scratching could be something other than an almond branch. Maybe it was the mountain lion that was rumored to be at large in the neighorhood. Or a hobo. It was true that she hadn’t heard of any hobos roaming about since the Great Depression, but it wasn’t too soon for this new Depression to be spawning hobos, was it? 

She went to the kitchen for a large knife, which she placed under her pillow. She didn’t think she would actually use a knife on a hobo; after all, what was a hobo but a human being fallen on hard times? The knife probably wouldn’t be much help against a mountain lion, and would no doubt just make the cougar angry. Still, she liked having it handy, because it would be useful in case it was a rapist or a murderer scratching at the window. 

If it did turn out to be a man at the window, how would she know whether he was a hobo, or a murderer or rapist? She didn’t want to think about that any more. She would think about that tomorrow.

She was pretty sure that she thought too much, anyway.