I was beginning to think that my life is unbelievably boring, considering I have had very little to blog about as of late. Then last night I let Nigel outside for his last pee before bed. It was a little later than usual (just after midnight) since Corner and I had just finished watching Men in Black. Corner usually lets the dog out before bed, but he was busy sorting some laundry, so I volunteered. Keep in mind I was wearing only my underwear and a t-shirt (hey, it was bedtime). I grabbed 2 blankets from the couch on my way to the front door and bundled myself up in them and stood on the front porch as Nigel went about his business in the yard.
So Nigel was sniffing around the front yard and I see something large and shiny glinting by the light of the streetlights over in the driveway near my car. It was some sort of small BMX-style bike. Weird, but I didn’t think it was incredibly unusual since my neighbor has a lot of friends arrive on foot to his house and I figured maybe someone had dumped their bike in our yard either a) by mistake or b) for safekeeping. About this time I noticed that Nigel had wandered off towards the side yard. I watched as he suddenly stiffened and became very alert. Then he started barking. Not like a OH I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE HOME bark but a SOMETHING WEIRD IS GOING ON HERE bark. And he didn’t go any further into the side yard. At this point I was thinking there was some sort of animal back there and maybe it was bigger than Nigel and that’s why didn’t approach it…but just in case, I stuck my head back in the front door and asked Corner to come check out the side of the house because the dog was barking at something and acting a little weird.
So Corner came outside, giant Maglite flashlight in hand (we’re talking this thing is over a foot long and HEAVY and I’m pretty sure you could clobber someone over the head with it if you needed to). I went back inside and continued sorting the laundry and checking my email because at this point I was thinking a very large raccoon had taken up residence in our yard or something. Then I heard 2 voices outside: Corner’s voice and someone else’s.
Corner walked back inside and headed for the kitchen. “This kid got beat up at the bus stop and was hiding in our yard,” he said.
“What? A kid? Like how old?” I asked.
“And by kid I mean he’s like my age or older.”
Corner went back outside with a glass of water for the guy and learned that he had been waiting for the bus at the bus stop next to our house (there is a city bus stop right on the other side of our short picket fence). Some other guys supposedly beat him up and took all his money. Corner said he looked pretty worse for the wear and was clutching his side like maybe his ribs were broken or something. Corner kept asking if he needed to make a phone call so someone could come pick him up, but the guy insisted he had no one to call. It probably didn’t help that Corner and I know zero Spanish and this guy did not have a very firm grasp of English.
Corner finally said that he was going to call the police, and the guy was suddenly very eager to leave. He gave his empty water glass back to Corner and hightailed it out of our front yard. thanking him. Corner stopped him to ask if the bike next to my car belonged to him and he said it did not. Yet when Corner looked outside shortly after the guy left, the bike was gone. Hhhmmm.
Anyway, Corner did call the cops and file a police report of some kind but basically I’m a little weirded out by the whole situation and now we are getting renters insurance and a floodlight for the side of the house.
I’m just glad Nigel didn’t run up to the guy and start giving him kisses.
