JuiceBoxJungle

Someone is in your house - the police are on the way!

Posted 11 months ago on The Suburban Jungle

Tonight our alarm went off. At 12:03 AM. I jumped out of bed and ran to the keypad to see if we had an alarm code. We did….code #1…the garage door. The phone rang. I couldn’t find the phone. I quickly ran to our playroom to grab the phone I had left there.

It was the alarm company. Are you okay? Yes. Someone is in your house….the police are on the way. He started to ask for my password and the phone started to echo. We have cordless, speaker phones and I know that echo sound well. It’s the sound the phone makes when someone picks up the other line.

The phone echoes for a few seconds and then goes dead. “Hello, hello….are you there? Are the police coming?” Nothing. I push talk and try to redial the alarm company. No dial tone. Holy hell, this is really going down.

And ironically, today is the day that my cell phone died. So I had no way to call the police.

I run to the safe and grab the gun. I cock it quickly. Man, I’ve gotten good at this part. And I take my position in the staircase.

I look at my daughter who had decided to sneak into my bed tonight. She’s quietly sleeping through the whole thing. The phone is still dead. I wasn’t this nervous last time, but having an actual code and the phone issues freaked me out. I’m shaking. I shine the laser down the staircase. It’s shaking all over.

I need to pull it together. If I was going to shoot, I needed to focus. I needed to be strong against the recoil so I could continue to fire.

I turn off the sirens and close and lock my bedroom door. Like a military cadet, I cross to the other side of the staircase and quickly lock my son’s door.

The phone rings again. It’s my husband. When the alarm company could no longer reach me, they called him. He’s gone on business. Oh, why does this kind of thing always happen when he’s out of town? I’m glad the phone is working again but I hear something downstairs.

I want to get off the phone. I need two hands to shoot. I want him to show his face….so I can blow it off. I stop to wonder if my husband reloaded the hollow points after his last trip to the range. Screw it…I’m shooting whatever’s in there.

I spent an agonizingly long time waiting in the crook of the stairs while the alarm company insisted on being on the phone. I should have hung up. Then I heard footsteps in the back. I left the stairs and made my way back into my room.

There were two men on the deck. They were police officers. Phew! Dispatch called to tell me to disarm and come out, showing my hands. I opened the door to 3 extremely tall officers. Or was I just short because I was barefoot and in jammies?

They told me my basement door was unlocked. Fan-flipping-tastic! I’m a neurotic door checker and now I’m going to have to start circuiting the doors again. They check out the house and tell me it’s all clear. I can’t stop staring at the the main officer’s gun. It’s yellow. What in the world? Maybe it was a taser?

They leave and I say good night to my husband. But there will be no sleep tonight……

I’m too shaky from the adrenaline and I’ve got the feeling more money will be making it’s way into the hands of the gun shop. I can never sleep if money will be spent. Last time this happened, I won an all-day trip to the gun store, shooting lessons, and a new shot gun. If it’s not a gun this time, I’m betting on more ammo……