I normally wouldn't post a blog on this site on the same day that I post a travel blog. But I have something to get off of my chest. So, I must. Last week after years of vacancy someone finally moved into the condo across from mine. You may know it as the squirrel condo that has been featured in this blog on occasion. I was so happy to have a neighbor finally in that unit. On Sunday I was outside sweeping the front walk and the new neighbor came outside and started cleaning his glass door. We introduced ourselves and talked briefly. Judging from his accent, I would guess that he is probably Jamaican. Just before coming back inside, I told him that if he or his wife ever needed anything they should not hesitate to let me know.
Fast forward to 10:45 last night. I was sitting at my computer with the lights on downstairs, windows were open so that I could enjoy the nice weather, the TV was on and could no doubt be heard as you walked past the open windows down the sidewalk in front of my condo. The Christmas tree was lit in my front window with the blinds pulled all the way up so that you can see it from outside. Then the doorbell rang. No one rings my doorbell at 10:45 p.m. I just don't get visitors that late at night. So, I immediately stood up and went to the front door since it is one of the few places downstairs where I could not be seen if you looked in a window. I picked up the baseball bat that I keep in my umbrella stand and stood there waiting for the "visitor" to leave. I thought that as they walked away, I would be able to see them through one of the windows and if it turned out to be someone I knew, I could call them back. Finally, I saw a man run, not walk, down the sidewalk and into the parking lot. He ran around the building across from mine and behind it down the alley. He was wearing a white tee shirt and black gym shorts and carrying something in his left hand. He was also barefooted.
So, I went and got my phone just in case he came back and went back to stand behind the front door with my baseball bat. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang twice more back to back. Then he ran away again back across the parking lot and down the alley. It was the same man and this time, I looked closely at what he was carrying in his left hand as he ran across the parking lot in the dark. It looked like it could be a handgun with a long barrel. I freaked and called 911. The 911 operator asked me if he was black or white. Black I answered. He wanted to know what he was wearing and I told him. Then I started thinking and I thought, if he was a bad guy, why would he be barefooted???? And then I started thinking, wait... my new neighbor is black and could fit the description of this man.... So I told the 911 operator that. The operator asked if I could see him now so I kept peeking out the window to try to get another glimpse of him.
He ran by again, but under the lights this time and I realized that the object in his left hand was not a gun but a monkey wrench. So I told the operator that and I told him, I really thought it could be the neighbor. Maybe something was wrong or someone had broken into his house..... In all honesty this was a desperate attempt to try to redeem myself. I was almost 100% sure now that I had indeed called the police on my new neighbor. So, finally, two police cars arrived and I hung up the phone. The police cars stopped at his alley and the cops got out of their cars. He came walking up to them and they all walked toward my front door together. The police knocked on my front door and told me that he had a massive water leak in his unit and was trying to figure out where to turn the water off. He had rang my doorbell to see if I knew.
I felt AWFUL!!!!! So, now I am officially the worst neighbor in the world stereo-typing the very nice black man who lives across from me and literally calling the police on him when it was he who had an emergency. On the bright side, the police called the fire department who came out to help him. I hope they didn't get a lot of water damage. I need to go to the grocery store so that I can bake a cake to take over as an apology. But I can't leave the house since the idiots finally showed up to work on my foundation. You will be happy to know however, that the response time from the Dallas Police department was only 2 minutes. Last night when I was lying in bed feeling horribly guilty about having called the police, I tried to think of how that could have been avoided. If he had yelled through the door, "Hey, this is Ben, your new neighbor and I have a huge water leak in my house!" That might have helped. If I gave them my phone number so that they could call instead of ringing my doorbell at 10:45 p.m. That might have helped. I honestly believe that if he had been white, and had been running around like that carrying something in his hand and ringing my doorbell, I would have reacted exactly the same way. But I'll never know.
Ugh! I'm the worst neighbor ever!
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