Writings from the car trip

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He woke to the sound of not-howling later, and there was a short bit of cursing (and invoking of divine protection). He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t get back to sleep with the song playing in the background. This time it wasn’t just woodwinds, but a series of musical themes, nothing loud enough to actually hear, but loud enough to register as noise.

He got out of bed, and snuck over to the window. There was nothing there. Confused, he went back to bed. There was a noise from the side of the building, but it was the opposite side of the house and he couldn’t see over there. He felt around under the bed for the baseball bat that he’d stuck a bit of holly on (and an old iron nail and a bit of salt) and tried to talk himself into heading into the main room to check it out.
Then it got quite for a bit, and he got up the courage to go exploring. He opened the door carefully, bat in hand, but saw nothing. He started over to the side window and was halfway across the couch when the dogs walked through the door. He hefted the bat, but they didn’t look threatening. All four of them flowed into the room. The two Sheppard-like dogs were in front, the rotwieller and the hound-like dog hanging back behind them.
“Shoo!” He waved the bat threateningly. “Go home! Leave me alone!” Pause. “Rar!”

The dogs looked at him for a moment then the dog from the worksite stepped forward. He raised the bat, preparing for an attack, but the dog just wagged it’s tail slowly, ears up and a slightly wary look. The bat dipped slightly as he hesitated and in that instant the dog sprang on him.

The dog knocked him back against the sofa, whomping his elbow against the coffee table and accidentally disarming him. For a moment he was surprised, not just by the attack but by the fact that the ghost had weight to it. Still, it felt much lighter than a dog it’s size should have and Jon struggled to get leverage against the animal. They fought for a minute, the dog using her weight to pin him against the couch and Jon trying to grab ahold of the bat. During the struggle the bat wedged itself under the coffee table and Jon gave up trying to reach it. Instead he grabbed one of the game controllers, but it passed through the animal harmless. Although it did feel a bit like pushing his hand through water, the dog didn’t seem to notice.