Midnight. I just got back from another stroll to look at comet Neowise. A crisp, cold, clear moonless night, comet Neowise painting a streak across the northern sky, the Milky Way above me. What a glorious night sky, not a cloud anywhere.

The comet was brighter tonight than a few days ago when I first saw it. So I stayed and watched for a while.

And as I was getting ready to leave I heard an odd noise behind me and I spun around, grabbing my headlamp button as I turned. My light came on – a red night light – and standing motionless maybe four feet away from me, silently watching me, was an enormous husky. And standing beside him, a grey fox. How they came up so close to me, so quietly, I have no idea.

Both of them stood there for a while – silent, still, their eyes red coals in the reflection of my headlamp. They watched me, I watched them. And then, silently, they turned and continued together on down the road.

I couldn’t believe – I still can’t really believe – what I’d seen. The comet, those animals – all together as they were, under that sky. I looked for them then, but they had disappeared. And as I walked back, I came upon the barns, and their bright lights, and the darkness was gone.