For whatever reason, I woke up about 6:10 a.m. this morning (I went to bed around the usual 3 a.m.) and used the opportunity to go to the can.

My bathroom is right across from my main door, and just as I'm about to start to do my business, there's somebody outside on the landing with a flashlight trying to look in.

I give my head a WTFF shake.

There's a translucent white shade over my door's window, so I mainly see the outline of a large figure with a bright light from a flashlight piercing the darkness of my foyer (an excellent horror movie image).

I creep beside the door to make sure it's locked. I stand off to the side of the door and try to discretely lift the blind a bit to see what's going on outside. The figure was wearing a tan parka with the hood up. The flashlight didn't look like a cop's; it looked like a household one with an aluminum body and a red cap for the lens.

This person wasn't there that long. He or she crept away without making any significant noise, nor did he or she apparently try to open the door.

I don't think it was a cop and I believe my newspaper generally comes even earlier. In any event, why would a newspaper carrier be checking out my landing like that? Their business is to drop off the paper and skedaddle.

All in all, a weird little episode.