The Dark Side

Speaking of quandary's, the last week has been interesting. And rife with visits from the dark side.

During the beginning of the week, we had special visitors from the Lower Valley (we thought a lower state at first) who were going door to door. Not door to door to sell or tell, but to see who was home and then permanently borrow items that had good resale value from absent residents.

No dog, no alarm (unless you count the overweight, old, and terribly chicken tuxedo cat), no one at home, no neighbors around...perfect recipe for 'help yourself.'

The evidence? A neighbor on the next block over noticed something fishy and started his own patrol. Footprints on the dust on the bench beneath our kitchen window. Removed kitchen window screen. Opened trunk by the back door, with a doll taken out and posed on top of the lid. Torn cat door flap and broken off piece of the vinyl (yes, dear, they did go for the cat door - but did they get in????).

Fortunately for us, the patrol neighbor scared them off, and the police were on the scene within minutes. Report filed.

A week ago today, as we were making lunch, we heard a weird noise. "Gunshots," said the honey. "Maybe it was the stove," said the wife.

Ok, this is the only time this year, but he was right. Gunshots. Right in front of our house. When the crime scene was taped off, the casings were about 3 feet off of our driveway. Yes, dear, you were right. But could it have been something more positive?

Police on the scene in minutes. Report filed.

Honestly, we tell the neighbors, who have come out in force to keep watch over each other, we do not know these miscreants of illegality. They are not related to us.

The neighbors, in reply, reassure us that these happenings are RARE. Nothing like this ever happens in our area. It's a great place to live. Really.

We believe them. Granted, last week, the house was almost back on the market.

But now, the dogwood is planted, and we are starting to put down good roots.