Over the course of my year-and-a-bit of living in this town, I’ve noticed an odd thing. Several street lights will go out as I approach them. I’ll be driving along and suddenly the lights in front of my will flicker and go dim. I never see them coming back on, but I know that the next time I drive past they’ll be bright right up until I get about 15 feet away from them.

The only light that does this absolutely every time I pass it is the light nearest my apartment buildings, but there are other lights that have played this strange game of hide and seek with me. Even the security light on the front of my building condescends to unlight my way from time to time.

Depending on my mood, this strikes me as sinister or silly. Sometimes it seems like the lights are deliberately leaving me vulnerable to the hauntings of the night, and sometimes they seem more like babies playing peek-a-boo, giggling as drive under them.

For a long time I thought I was imagining it. Then I started theorizing about what could make it happen. Do my headlights trick the sensors into thinking it’s day? Not likely, seeing as it’s also happened when I’ve walked under them. Could it be the aliens that are invading my hallway? No, that’s even less likely. Electromagnetic forces? Pixies? Nothing seems to make sense.

Still, I never said anything about it to anyone. After all, there’s always the chance I’m just imagining it. But last week one of my co-workers made reference to the incredible un-lighting street lights. She wouldn’t have thought my eager questioning about her experience was so odd if she’d know that she’d just released me from my code of uncertain silence. She’d just proved that I’m not insane.