NIGHT

You dread it.  You long for it. 

When it arrives, whether it falls softly, drifting along soon after the golden hour, or swiftly, wrapped in a sudden burst of wind and rain, you welcome it and give yourself up to it for the few short hours you can embrace the cover and the silence of the night.

With the night, comes sleep, however fitful.  And for any street puppy, the sleep is the healer, the balm, the respite from the day's cares and worries and wounds and aches both physical and psychic.

Now, the key word here is sleep.  And you need it.  You've been walking - sometimes running - about all the day, and you probably don't have enough nutrition to keep the nagging body working right, so sleep should fill that gap, that need to regenerate.

Where you are sleeping is not important, and if you're like most street puppies, your boudoir, or what passes for it will change regularly, if not frequently, as it should, especially if you are sleeping sans companion(s).

Keep your head about you, and remember to do that, change your sleeping spot regularly.  Vary your route  and travel hour to and fro, and do not tell anybody where you are located.  And that means even your best friend in Homeless Nation. 

Word gets around, and somebody out there -friend or foe - will get the idea in their head that night is the best time for them to replenish their own supplies, under cover of the darkness, and using the stealth they have acquired to take the  very shoes and socks from somebody's feet without making a sound, or even a motion. 

Shoes and socks and other things, including your life.

Which is why a street puppy's sleep is fitful.  You won't get a full night of it, unless you had too much tequila and pass out.  On the average, a street puppy's sleeping time comes in blocks of an hour or so of what can only be described as 'sleeping with one eye open.'  And both ears tuned to the slightest movement anywhere around you.

You will develop both of these  abilities quickly.  If you don't, you may just as well fall out under the brightest street light available and post a sign reading, "Hey!  I'm really stupid, take all of my stuff, then beat me up."

Take careful note of some things which will be a pain in the butt, and probably disrupt an entire night.

Sprinklers.  Ant hills.  Bull frogs that leap about on your face.  Ant hills.  Thorns embedded in otherwise benign looking bushes.  People who are way too friendly and would like to walk with you on your journey to the spot.

Pack a flashlight, preferably one of those nifty small thingys.  You'll need it to tell time, and to find that cigarette lighter you keep dropping onto the ground.

Don't advertise your presence.  No music, and don't even think about plugging earphones into your ears, you need to be able to hear anything -repeat that- anything that moves about around you.

Be respectful.  Wherever you are bedded is probably somebody's private property and if you're smart..and respectful, you will want to make it seem as though you weren't even there. Thus, no wrappers, napkins, pop top cans, or evidence of making potty.  Ahem.

And be an early riser.  The police usually drop by, if they're going to drop by just before dawn, because they want to catch you sleeping so that you can't say, "Officer, I'm just down here looking for my dad's wristwatch, he gave it to me just before he died."

Get used to rising before the sun, collecting your few belongings you have brought with you, which should be at the most, a very modest sleeping bag or a couple of light blankets, don't be a pit about it and making up a bed which would make Martha Stewart proud, you'll only be conspicuous and you won't be able to pick up and run real fast with all of that Martha stuff hanging around your ankles.

Eventually, you'll get the hang of it.  And soon you'll be able to survive with just a few hours of light snoozing and a few cat naps during the day. 

And don't mind the bull frogs, when they land on your face, they're just on their way to somewhere else.

Probably their own place to spend the night.