The drama unfolded suddenly as I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes. It was early morning a few days ago and one of the neighborhood cats was in the backyard, seeming to be on stealth patrol. I was familiar with the cat with its black and white markings, having chased it out of the yard many times as it prepared to go after the birds at our two feeders.

Before I could move, another familiar cat, this one jet black, came into view from the right and I watched the pair close in on a little rabbit I had not noticed before. It was a youngster, clearly terrified, and it darted into our raspberry patch. The cats continued to track it on either side of the long and narrow stand of berries.

I ran outside to scare off the cats. One slithered under the fence into our neighbor's yard, but I didn't see where the other one went. I scouted around for any sign of the bunny or the jet black cat but found nothing. I went back inside, hoping I had short-circuited the........

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