Pilfering, Absconding, and On The Lam

Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)

Well I WAS going to bed…

As I was leaving my office at 1:23am, after posting my last blog and cleaning up a few emails, I noticed a light outside. I thought it odd, since I knew I had not left the outside light on. (Plus, it was too dim for our outside lights.) I peered out the window and noticed that our van lights were on. All of them. (Sometimes one of our children will leave one or two on… but not all.)

This was odd. But not as odd as THE ARM reaching across to the glove compartment!

My first thought, being the optimist that I am, was that it was my friendly neighbor helping with my open door again. Then I remembered it was 1:30 in the morning!!!

I quickly headed downstairs and flipped on the lights out back, half hoping that all that I had seen was simply a middle-of-the-night illusion. SLAM! The van door shut almost instantly when the light went on. I opened the curtains and saw nothing. No one. Lights in the van were off. Still uncertain of the situation… I opened the van remotely. No one was in there… so that was good. But the diaper bag was definitely out of place. And Jen’s purse was not there.

Grrr.

Well, still not sure what was going on, I went around and flipped other lights on, looking for any suspicious characters. I just didn’t want to have to cancel credit cards!! Argh. No sign of him.

I was about to go to bed when I figured I should call and report the missing purse. But first, I should make sure it’s missing. Again, not sure of the situation, I went outside, and locked the door behind me. That way, if he kills me, he can’t get in to where my family was sleeping. Oh wait… the keys were in my hand. Well, it was a noble plan, albeit slightly flawed.

I got closer to the van and the purse was definitely nowhere in sight. So, I looked up the local police # on Jen’s Dashboard widget and dialed. I explained what had happened to the person on the other end of the phone and he sent someone out. We only live a block away from the police station, so that someone was there quickly. 🙂 Once he was there (with his side arm) I moved in on the van and checked out the condition of the contents. Yep… purse was gone… WAIT!!! It was on the front seat!! YES!!!

I moved around to the driver’s side and there was Jen’s wallet, too! YES!! Credit cards and all were there! NICE! I did a quick check of everything else…. all was there except for a couple dollars in change that we keep in our cupholder. NICE!!!

The officer asked a few more questions, and took a look around our property for shady characters. My neighbor (Mr. Light Sleeper) came out to see what was afoot. So, we checked his vehicles and garage and stuff. Quite an interesting way to spend your 1:45am.

Well, it’s all over now, and somewhere on the streets of Palmyra is a (likely) young scallywag who has absconded my pocket change and is still on the lam!

Now I’m not tired.