Things Are Getting Pretty Weird Around Here

Last night I returned home just after midnight to find my next-door neighbor's door wide open and her cats in the hall. I shooed the kitties inside and asked them where their mom was. That didn't get me very far, so I knocked on her open door repeatedly, then stuck my head into her apartment calling "Hello? Hello? Anybody home?" Then it occurred to me that I should probably call the police. In retrospect, everything I'd done up until calling the police was pretty stupid. "Hello? Any ax murderers in there? Could you maybe try not to let the kitties out?"

90 seconds after my call to the police, three officers arrived. That's a pretty speedy response. I live in a fairly safe, fairly white section of the city. I wonder how long it would have taken the police to arrive on the scene in the ghetto just a few blocks away. Anway, the police came and checked things out and I guess they didn't find any ax murderers or murderees because they simply left, shutting the door behind them. Case closed.

But THEN I stepped out of my apartment this morning to go to work and was greeted by the EXACT same situation: door wide open, kitties in the hall, and no neighbor. Since I was running late -- as usual -- I decided to deal with it once I got to school.

Only I couldn't get to school because Tropical Storm Ernesto is dumping 4.1 inches of rain an HOUR on Southeast Virginia and the streets are flooded out. Not flooded like there's a few larger-than-normal puddles, but flooded like there's two or three feet of water on the road. I got halfway to school (which, since I live five blocks away, is really not that far) and had to turn around. Then I called Steve's cell to see if he'd been able to get to school. His wife answered, which confused me.

"Uh, hey Jen. I thought I called Steve. Did I accidentally call you?"

"No, you called Steve, but he's sleeping."

"What? He's sleeping?"

"Oh. We probably should have called you. School's closed."

Note to self: perhaps owning a television might not be such a bad thing.

But see, it never occurred to me that school might be closed today since yesterday I sent an email to my principal saying I'd heard a rumor that school might be closed tomorrow (which is now today) and asking if there was any truth to it, and he sent me an email back that said, "RUMOR!!!!!!!!!!. . .see you tomorrow." You mean I could have stayed out later and had more to drink last night? I could have caught the ENTIRE Lovesick Cousin (or, as it appeared on the marquee last night: Love Sickcousin) show instead of just the first two sets? Bastard.

So anyway, I came back home, tried to reach my landlord about the neighbor situation, and then called the police again. This time it took them ten minutes to get here, which isn't bad considering the aforementioned flooding and the non-emergency nature of the call. They asked me a few questions and said they'd check it out.

It's kinda freaky to watch three big-ass cops enter the apartment next-door to you with guns drawn. I mean, nobody said anything like, "Cover me. I'm going in," but they were definitely prepared for some sketchy shit to go down, and it was still kind of a weird thing to see.

I absolutely hate guns. Just the thought of guns creeps me out a little, and seeing them in person literally makes me tremble (and not in a good way). The police officers' guns didn't do that to me though. I can't go so far as to say I was comforted by their guns -- they certainly didn't make me feel any safer. But I sort of felt glad for the officers that they had guns, like if they had to go in there and face the bad guys at least they had some leverage.

Which pretty much goes against everything I believe in and is going to take some getting used to.

It turns out there weren't any bad guys in my neighbor's apartment, and so far her door has remained closed. But there's definitely something weird about the whole situation, and I really don't like bothering the police every 12 hours or so. Even if some of those officers ARE pretty cute.