Vigilant Kids

Last week our neighbor three doors down had a break-in. While we were all at Grandparents’ Day (and aforementioned neighbors were there too as they are at school with us) some folks kicked in their back door, and stole a bunch of electronics, worth a fair amount of money. The fact that this home has a picket fence around their back yard, making it very easy for any passers-by to see the thieves carrying items such as an enormous big screen tv out the back door and into their waiting vehicle didn’t seem to make any difference. Oh, the nerve.

Our children are aware of the crime, and rather than be cowed by this development, seem determined to fight back. This morning as they played in and out of the house and backyard, a couple of them began yelling and screaming for us at the top of their lungs. It appears their watchful eyes saw what appeared to them to be a suspicious man going in and out of the yards just adjacent to ours. We heard their cries through the open door and windows, and Jay ran out back immediately to investigate.

What he found at the back of our driveway was a rather frightened-looking man in uniform in possession of a handheld meter, with which he had been checking the electrical usage of all the nearby houses. He explained himself to us cautiously, all the while glancing furtively at my brood of loud and excited children. Jay, satisfied that no evil was being done, sent the man on his way. I think the poor guy was glad to go.

But I was proud of my children. If neighbors everywhere kept an eye out for each other with as much vigilance as my children seem wont to, surely there would be fewer incidences of these sorts!