Joe and I were sitting in the dining room eating tacos for dinner. All of a sudden, we heard a terrible crash right outside our door. We both run for the window, and see two cars and several individuals standing around looking at this horrific scene. As I begin searching for my phone and shoes, Joe had already swung open our front door, hopped the fence, and was running to the scene: One of the cars had started smoking. Joe carried the female driver from the car safely to the grass.
At this time, a young boy emerged from the other car holding his head. Blood was everywhere. "Get towels!" Joe yelled. So I did. I ran to the scene to see the boy, still breathing, but blood coming out faster than ever. Our neighbor, ironically enough certified just yesterday in CNA, was helping the boy while Joe reassured him he was going to make it. The driver of this car yelled, "I don't see how he is soooo hurt," and sat back in her car. I was now talking to dispatch, and the driver was not happy about the "big deal" we seemed to be making. Let's see, a woman lying in shock from a burning car and a young boy bleeding out of his head. No big deal?
I walked back to our house to continue the conversation with dispatch in which I told her that the woman driver seemed incredibly hostile. Why didn't she care about the kid in the car? Or the woman she hit? By this time, two separate ambulances had taken the two with injuries, and several cops were on the scene. Joe asked the cops if he could go and watch the hockey game, he had nothing more to say or do. That's just Joe.
Two days later...
Joe comes inside from the man den and calmly calls out, "Something really bad just happened. I need you to call dispatch." I come running upstairs, and Joe reveals that he had caught a teen boy inside his car! "Where is he now?" I asked Joe. "He just walked away," Joe replied. On to dispatch again...
The dispatch operator was far nicer than the cop that showed up. The cop gave us third degree as to why one of Joe's car windows was rolled down--it had been sprayed by a skunk a day earlier, and we were airing it out. Then he asked why we let the boy go. "He is a minor," I told the cop. "If we put our hands on him, we would have gone to jail, correct?" The cop did nothing but remind me of "just how many break-in's there are in our neighborhood." I reminded him that maybe more tax dollars should go to pay for more cops in "my neighborhood."
Thankfully, nothing was taken or broken, but it spooked me enough that I turned every light on in the house before bed, and we are now getting an electric gate put in front of our driveway. Joe said the kid was equally as spooked when Joe asked him why he was in his car, so hopefully, he is scared straight and will never do this to anyone again.
And for the grand finale...
On Sunday afternoon, Joe was at the grocery store, and I was finishing planting my flowers. A teeny, tiny boy without any shoes ran right past me and was ready to cross the busy street, you know, the one with the accident. I head out to the street to look for anyone that he could be with. No one was around. I call out to him and ask him if he would please get away from the busy street. He shook his head yes and slowly inched toward me. "Do you want to help me find your mom or dad?" He shook his head yes. We spent the next fifteen minutes walking down the street where he came from. "Is this your house?" I would point. He would shake his head no. "Is this your house?" This happened over and over again, each time, with an affirmative, "no."
I finally asked him if he would like to go back to my house so that I can call his mom and dad. He said yes. I get my pal dispatch lady again, and I tell her that there is a little boy in my yard without a mom or dad or anyone that appears to be looking for him. He was with me by this time for about twenty minutes. Did anyone call and file a missing toddler? Dispatch had said no. So sad.
Joe pulled in the driveway and began offering the little boy juice and crackers and all sorts of things. "Do you want to come inside?" he asked the boy. I screamed, "No!" I don't need someone thinking that we tried to kidnap the boy, and I sure as heck didn't know if he had any allergies! So the boy sat down right next to me on the porch as I'm talking to dispatch.
As the phone call continued, a bullet bike drove down the street and was at the Stop sign. The little boy stood up, pointed, and started screaming. "Do you know him?" I asked. The boy kept screaming. I darted out, the little boy behind me, and all of a sudden, the man recognized his stepson. He parked his bullet bike in our driveway and his friend, in the jeep behind him, took the little boy home, since he had scraped his feet up. Joe and I convinced the step dad to stay and talk to the cops so they wouldn't think that I was prank calling them since I was on my third conversation with dispatch for the week! The dad started acting funny asking us if he was going to get arrested. We told him no, and the police officer was incredibly nice upon arrival.
After we answered all of the cops questions, the cop hung around to try and tell us something, but the step dad remained as well, so the officer wished us a nice evening and left. Joe said that he thought that maybe this guy was someone that the officers had been looking for, so he was thankful that we found him. I'm just glad the little boy is ok.
After that, I took a three-hour nap. My nerves were officially shot. I hope to never call dispatch again!
In other news, since my deactivation of Facebook, I find myself less annoyed by people...probably because I can't read any of their nonsense. Joe says life is too short to get immersed in negativity. Let's just hope that our neighborhood takes a cue...
