Time- 3:30 am on Thursday (a.k.a. Wed night- LATE!)
We had just gone to bed when we heard the most awful banging sound that we have heard in a long time. It sounded like someone was trying to break into our house- or the one next door.
We live in a fairly quiet neighborhood in a trailer park- but there are some troubled teenagers who live nearby, and they are always into mischief. So we figured that they were at it again. But then we realized that this was a school night, so they were probably in bed.
The walls in our trailer are paper thin, so we hear A LOT of things. But this noise was different from anything that we had ever heard before.
What was it- and why was our ‘watchdog’- Ha! Ha!- not barking? (If anyone actually WOULD break into our house, our dog Joshua, would probably just wag his tail at them and then go home with them when they left!)
I do have to admit that this was one time that we were hoping he would bark- and scare off a possible burglar. But he was just laying in his bed, totally oblivious to the would-be burglar and to the evident peril that we were in.
Suddenly, there came a loud ‘bang’- which sounded like something had been smashed or broken, and then FINALLY Mr. Watchdog woke up and ran through the house barking like crazy. FINALLY!
Good dog.
And just as quickly as the noise had started, it stopped!
My husband opened the front door and looked outside- nothing, and no one was around. Just silence- deafening silence.
So we went back to bed- but lay awake for a long time wondering what had caused that loud noise.
Time- 4:00 pm on Thur afternoon
We were walking home from my mom’s house, (which is across the street from ours) when our next door neighbor stopped us and asked us if we had heard any unusual noises the night before.
We informed him that we surely had heard some loud banging at about 3:30 am. And he then pointed at the front of his house and showed us the kitchen window- shattered and broken.
While I was standing there (listening to the neighbor talk to my husband) and letting my mind wander, (thoughts like, “thank GOD it wasn’t our house!”), I realized that he was now saying that the window was broken from the inside out.
So, the burglar DID break into the house! UGH!! “I should have just called the police when I first heard the noise,” I thought to myself- while the neighbor was still jabbering away.
Then I asked him about his dead bolt. How did someone kick that in? He told us that the funny thing was- it was still intact- locked from the inside, and nothing was messed up or stolen. Just the window was broken- AND from the inside out!
He said that he had left his house at 3:15 am to take his wife to the emergency room at our local hospital.
AHA!!! So the burglar was watching the house. And knew that he had just left. The plot thickened and I got a knot in my stomach.
Were they also watching our house?
What if our dog had wanted to go outside to the bathroom- would we have been outside while the person was wrecking our neighbor’s house?
UGH!!!!!
Then my husband looked at the broken window more closely and noticed that the mini-blind was creased from the inside out- right in the middle of the window. So he asked our neighbor if it was possible that their new ‘puppy’- who is HUGE!- could have possibly jumped up on the window and broken the glass.
“NO”, stated our neighbor emphatically.
But, guess what- upon closer examination my husband and I both realized that that was EXACTLY what had happened.
The puppy, who has NEVER been left home alone, must have flipped out when his owners left him alone- and in the middle of the night, none-the-less.
Poor puppy. Scared, and just trying to get to them when he saw them leave the driveway. (Their car is parked in front of the kitchen window.)
Well, it is Saturday now, and our next door neighbor is STILL trying to figure out how someone got into his house without disturbing the deadbolt; and why they didn’t take anything while they were in there.
We, meanwhile, are sleeping peacefully- knowing that the ‘burglar’ won’t be bothering us!
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8 King James Version)