The 2001 Leonid shower – a hammock, 2 boys, and a cat. The 2001 Leonid shower delivered for our family. If memory serves, it was mid-November, 2001. The Leonid predictions were strong. The weather was typical Houston – covered in low clouds. The boys (about 9 and 11) were squirrely. I remember that it was a Sunday night, but I could be wrong. Nevertheless, we decided to pull our hammock out to the bottom of the yard. Sometime after dark and after bedtime the whole family bundled up, trekked outside, and jumped into the hammock to gaze at the sky. The boys were wiggly and the sky was disappointing – the low haze was so thick that not a single star could be spotted. But then – a streak! And another streak. And another. Diffused by the haze, the sky was laced with light streaks like a glow-in-the-dark spiderweb that blinked on and off. I don’t know how many dust particles we saw glowing as they screamed into the atmosphere above us, but there were dozens of streaks. Then, there was one more thing. Out of the dark and out of nowhere, a neighbor cat jumped into the hammock right on top of us, like a cat falling from the sky. It was some kind of omen (and we still haven’t figured it out), but a night like no other.