It was a dark and clear night, yet stormy in that unsettled sort of way where you know in your brain — your very tasty brain — that evil is lurking in the shadows because, after all, it's hard to effectively lurk in the harsh glare of, say, the post office or Costco or reality. And you know that somehow, somewhere, someone or something out there in the night will go bump and maybe throw in an occasional grind.