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feeling: wiped
listening to: Whose Line's on
Well, this has been an interesting day.
Ok. I woke up around noon today to the sound of the doorbell ringing. Over and over and over. I didn't answer because I thought mom or dad would... little did I know they weren't home. So finally I dragged myself out of bed and look out my window to see who it is (I'm on the top floor, overlooking the driveway, so I can see cars there) and see a car I've never seen before, with a guy standing next to it that I don't know. Couldn't tell much though, because having just awakened, my contacts weren't in. Then the doorbell stopped, and I thought I saw a second guy returning to the car, so I left the window. Well, next thing I hear is the garage door being opened manually. At this point I'm certain that he's going to steal the car (the one my parents didn't take) or something, and I'm getting a bit concerned. But that's not all. I then hear him actually in the house, calling out "Hello?" over and over. But he wouldn't say who he was, what he wanted, or anything - just "Hello?" So my heart is pounding double time as I scurry to the unused ex-bedroom across the "hall" from my room, and I have my thumb on the button ready to dial 911 to report unlawful entry when I hear a car engine and gravel being... well, driven over. So I run back to my room and the window, and see the car flying out of the driveway.
Thank God, I mutter to myself, they're gone. So finally I creep downstairs and look around, still not completely convinced. First thing I notice is the sliding glass patio door that leads to the backyard; it is unlocked and, if I recall right, just slightly open. We always keep that door locked. ALWAYS. Even when everyone is home. Anyway, I look around the rooms where there's important stuff - computers, major appliances, etc. - and everything appears in order. I look for notes stuck in doors or on tables, but find none. So I sit down and let my adrenaline levels stabilize a bit while I wait for my parents to get home. They do after about 15 minutes, so I immediately tell them what happened, and they start looking around a bit more intently than I did. Mom looks into the back of their bedroom and gasps as if she had a heart attack: her jewelry box is gone. After she recovers a bit from that shock, she realizes her purse, which was sitting on her dresser, is also missing. And the top drawer of the dresser is just slightly cracked. Of course, mom had credit cards and stuff in her wallet in her purse, so dad immediately calls the police and then the credit card companies to cancel and all the other essential stuff, the deputy comes, we give him as much info as we can, and he leaves. Mom had keys in her purse too, so we then went to get new locks and whatnot.
The bad part is, there was a lot of sentimental value contained in that jewelry box. But in terms of real money value, the jerks are gonna be reeeally disappointed. Mom had no more than $10 in her purse, probably less... no checks, no medicines, no jewelry, nothing of real worth other than the cards and IDs in her wallet. But all that can be cancelled/reported/whatever, which was all done promptly. Those guys may as well have stolen a box of... I dunno, tampons or something. XD;; As for the jewelry box... this is kinda funny... the guy actually selected and left behind a box full of pearl bracelets, as well as some gold stuff. And, there were a few little pin things that were still packaged with little paper backings and in plastic wrappers; the guy removed them ALL from their wrappers, placed the paper backings back in the wrappers, and threw the packagings out in the driveway before they left. 9_9 Anyway... luckily, since my mom isn't a jewelry person, there wasn't much of real worth in that jewelry box. Cheap class rings from the 70s, costume jewelry, broken stuff they were meaning to fix, little cheap trinkets that were only kept because they were gifts, my Sunday school perfect attendance pin, my brother's and my honor roll and perfect attendance pins from high school... all just minor milestones, pretty much. Stamps and address labels, too. Probably the most expensive thing in it was an awesome $60 Serengeti white tiger watch that I wore for a couple years, but it was broken and had some water damage and scratches so even that won't be worth much anymore. But, yeah. Lots of sentimental value lost, but nothing of major worth.
Here's my theory: the guy, once he was satisfied that no one was home, headed back to that room to start rummaging for stuff of value, starting with that top drawer that we later found cracked... but then heard me running around upstairs to grab my phone and stuff, realized he might get caught, grabbed the nearest hot-looking item(s), and bolted out the patio door, leaving it unlocked and not shut all the way in his haste. On one hand, if he hadn't been alerted to my presence, he'd have probably stolen a lot more. On the other, if I'd gone downstairs at that point, he'd have either taken off before I could do anything or gotten me out of the way and taken all he could carry. He should've just stolen the laptop computer that was in plain view in the room across from where he was... then we'd have gotten a brand new one thanks to insurance. XP
The thing is, I can't help thinking I should've just answered the initial doorbell. Because we're about 99% positive they were just local stupid kids, probably the same ones who are always vandalizing mailboxes and stuff around here... which would mean they were drunk and/or high, or wanted to be, and not armed. If I'd answered the door they probably would've come up with a story, like needing to use the phone, and then left empty handed. That's actually happened before; kids have come in before asking to use a phone, and they kinda looked around the house as they did... but it was always dad who handled them. They're not looking for trouble, they just want a quick buck. And he went to so much trouble to make sure no one was home before he started rummaging; if I'd announced my presence, even if I'd accused him of unlawful entry, he'd have had some kind of desperate story ready to explain himself away. Of course, by then he'd have been caught in a misdemeanor, empty-handed or not... so there's no way to know whether he'd have just run away or actually defended himself. But, I guess it's too late to worry about it now. It could've been a lot worse. And we have lots of shiny new locks now. Even on doors that previously didn't have locks.
Well... anyway.
Dangit, I thought I was finally coming out of that stupid slump I've been in for months. I did some drawing the past few days, and I haven't been as tired. But today it seemed to come back again. I am tired and my head hurts. >< I'm going to bed now...
EDIT: Dude, check it out! I have a comment option now!! *strut* And here I thought none of those codes were working... XD;; Leave me comments, all ye who enter here! kahahaaa
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dragged from Becky's stream of consciousness at 7/07/2002 01:33:00 AM
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