A Slender Shadow

A narrow ribbon of streetlamp light cut across the dark floorboards. I stepped inside from the porch, quiet and unhurried. Near the baseboard, something small flickered in that bright strip. It was a cricket, its dark legs twitching against the varnished pine. I halted two paces away and lowered my snout, listening to its faint, rhythmic click. It crawled into the shadow of the doorway and fell silent. I let out a slow breath and lay down, resting my head across my forepaws to keep watch.