Leah and I moved in with my dad 6 months ago. Although he has a 4 bedroom house, his various hobbies and our personal preferences mean that Leah and I share a bedroom. Also Leah has anxiety since my husband died a few years ago so she’s more comfortable when I’m in close proximity.
Dad left Sunday
for a trip to New Jersey. I took advantage of his absence to have a
bedroom to myself. When Leah and I are in the same room, I swear she turns into a giant squid with limbs everywhere. It's all feet in my face, elbows in my ribs, and fighting for space between her and the 2 or 3 cats who join us nightly.
Because we have a sprawling ranch, Dad's bedroom is on the far side of the house with several rooms in between. His cats are used to being kicked out at night, and my cats don't dare venture that far. It's a real win-win for me when he's out of town.
Until last night... Or this morning... Whatever it was. When at 2:30AM, I was awakened by a flashlight shining in my face and the command, "Ma'am, would you please come with me?" Ya know, like the Golden State Killer used to do.
Apparently Leah woke up around 2AM and couldn’t find me--I had not, in fact, told her I'd be sleeping in PopPop's bed. She was too scared to go to the far end of the house and look around, and so she called 9-1-1. Unfortunately she couldn’t remember our new address so she told them she lives at “Mr. C’s house”. While here in our tiny town, that would be plenty, 9-1-1’s dispatch center is 35 miles away. My best guess is they traced the call back to the house.
Leah and the operator had (by her accounts) one hell of a conversation... When she was unable to figure out our address, she located my wallet and gave the dispatcher all the information from my driver's license (which is still my Virginia license). She went back to our room and emptied out her Minefaire jar (money she is earning and saving to buy Minecraft merch this summer) and created a plan to walk 4 miles up to town to find me, as she figured I might be at the local convenience store--thank you, unknown 911 operator, for talking her out of leaving the house! And then, as she waited and chatted, she decided to get dressed in a lovely party dress, because (and I quote) "I figured I should look nice if the police were coming over." She did refrain from discussing Minecraft with the operator, although she considered it strongly.
All of this, mind you, I totally slept through.
We live in a very small town—I’m talking 400 people tops. The most excitement is when some idiot gets drunk on a Friday night, you know? So they sent no fewer than THREE cops to investigate. A sheriffs deputy and two state troopers to investigate reports of a 9 year old with a missing mom. This really could have been pretty damned exciting if it hadn't ended so boringly.
And so at 2:30AM, the St. Lawrence County Sheriff's deputy arrived to figure out what sort of monster would leave her 9 year old unattended at that hour. I did as I was told, and got up, and of course, I was wearing one of my shabbiest nightgowns--but as many people correctly stated, at least I hadn't chosen to sleep au naturale. As I came into the family room, I found the two troopers standing in the adjacent living room examining the moving boxes I'd just unloaded into the house. There were cats twining around everywhere, and Leah had a firm hold on 'her' cat, Fancy. This led the deputy to remark, "You sure do have a lot of cats in here." I pointed out we had four. As one does when one is confronted with significant police presence in one's living room at that hour.
I still really couldn't understand what was going on--briefly I wondered if my dad and his re-enacting friends were really arms smugglers, or if I had done something illegal I was unaware of... I struggled to shake off the cobwebs while explaining to Leah that I was ok and had just gone to sleep in the other room, and I was fine and everything was fine. One of the troopers commended her on keeping her wits about her and calling for help and told her she could do that any time she got scared (he REALLY did not need to do that--haha). They took both our names and birthdates, wished us good night, and were off.
The next morning, Leah woke up and said, "On second thought, I probably should have conducted a more thorough search." #facepalm
I'm looking forward to the articles in the paper. “The child’s mother was located sleeping in another room.”
Because we have a sprawling ranch, Dad's bedroom is on the far side of the house with several rooms in between. His cats are used to being kicked out at night, and my cats don't dare venture that far. It's a real win-win for me when he's out of town.
Until last night... Or this morning... Whatever it was. When at 2:30AM, I was awakened by a flashlight shining in my face and the command, "Ma'am, would you please come with me?" Ya know, like the Golden State Killer used to do.
Apparently Leah woke up around 2AM and couldn’t find me--I had not, in fact, told her I'd be sleeping in PopPop's bed. She was too scared to go to the far end of the house and look around, and so she called 9-1-1. Unfortunately she couldn’t remember our new address so she told them she lives at “Mr. C’s house”. While here in our tiny town, that would be plenty, 9-1-1’s dispatch center is 35 miles away. My best guess is they traced the call back to the house.
Leah and the operator had (by her accounts) one hell of a conversation... When she was unable to figure out our address, she located my wallet and gave the dispatcher all the information from my driver's license (which is still my Virginia license). She went back to our room and emptied out her Minefaire jar (money she is earning and saving to buy Minecraft merch this summer) and created a plan to walk 4 miles up to town to find me, as she figured I might be at the local convenience store--thank you, unknown 911 operator, for talking her out of leaving the house! And then, as she waited and chatted, she decided to get dressed in a lovely party dress, because (and I quote) "I figured I should look nice if the police were coming over." She did refrain from discussing Minecraft with the operator, although she considered it strongly.
All of this, mind you, I totally slept through.
We live in a very small town—I’m talking 400 people tops. The most excitement is when some idiot gets drunk on a Friday night, you know? So they sent no fewer than THREE cops to investigate. A sheriffs deputy and two state troopers to investigate reports of a 9 year old with a missing mom. This really could have been pretty damned exciting if it hadn't ended so boringly.
And so at 2:30AM, the St. Lawrence County Sheriff's deputy arrived to figure out what sort of monster would leave her 9 year old unattended at that hour. I did as I was told, and got up, and of course, I was wearing one of my shabbiest nightgowns--but as many people correctly stated, at least I hadn't chosen to sleep au naturale. As I came into the family room, I found the two troopers standing in the adjacent living room examining the moving boxes I'd just unloaded into the house. There were cats twining around everywhere, and Leah had a firm hold on 'her' cat, Fancy. This led the deputy to remark, "You sure do have a lot of cats in here." I pointed out we had four. As one does when one is confronted with significant police presence in one's living room at that hour.
I still really couldn't understand what was going on--briefly I wondered if my dad and his re-enacting friends were really arms smugglers, or if I had done something illegal I was unaware of... I struggled to shake off the cobwebs while explaining to Leah that I was ok and had just gone to sleep in the other room, and I was fine and everything was fine. One of the troopers commended her on keeping her wits about her and calling for help and told her she could do that any time she got scared (he REALLY did not need to do that--haha). They took both our names and birthdates, wished us good night, and were off.
The next morning, Leah woke up and said, "On second thought, I probably should have conducted a more thorough search." #facepalm
I'm looking forward to the articles in the paper. “The child’s mother was located sleeping in another room.”
