Have you ever had that creepy feeling, that you are being watched? However irrational it may seem, you know with absolute certainty, that something unseen sees you. Your sixth sense is warning you and cannot be ignored.

Bathing outdoors is one of summer’s decadent delights. I was over the moon with excitement last August, when shown the outside shower, while visiting our friends Ken and Jill’s Fire Island, beach house. I was all in having grown up bathing in a lake but I suspect that the more modest Mr. Bill, was relieved to note, that the enclosure had four solid walls and was only open to the sky above.

There I was blissfully performing my daily ablutions, when suddenly the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Alarmingly, Mr. Bill was not within shouting distance, when my spidey sense began tingling to alert me, that I was not alone. I spun around. I was reassured that there were no peep holes in the weathered wood and the door was still firmly latched. I looked down but only soapy water was finding a route through the deck floor to the sandy soil below and there were no inquisitive eyes peering upwards. Nervously, I looked up. Staring down at me was a pair of unblinking, inscrutable, green eyes. Our eyes locked. I nodded and said, “well hello Ozzie” and with an insouciant flick of his tail, he was gone. Ozzie was a cat.

Ozzie is no ordinary gray tabby; he is the neighborhood watch cat of Atlantique. He lives next door to our friends and has taken it upon himself, to guard that narrow stretch of barrier island, which lies between the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Ever vigilant, this fearless feline is always on the prowl. Not only does Ozzie provide home security for the island’s humans, he keeps the population of wild, white tailed deer under control. Ever my protector, Mr. Bill had obviously engaged Paw Patrol as back up.