Things that Go "Bump" in the Night

. . . or, in this case, "crash."

I was awakened around 3:00 a.m. this morning by the sound of Daniel dialing our phone. "Who in the world is he calling at this hour?" I wondered. After a few seconds I heard him say, "Hello? My name is Daniel Thompson. I live in apartment 2212. I think there are some people breaking into a car behind our apartment." Suddenly I was wide awake. I waited until he was off the phone and then I joined him in the next room, which has a window overlooking the parking lot. Sure enough, three men were shining a dim flashlight into the windows of a pickup truck just behind our apartment. They eventually forced their way in, spent a few moments searching the interior of the cab and then went on to another car a few spaces down and began to tinker with its windows and trunk. They wore dark clothes and were carrying a large lumpy-looking sack.

Within a few moments, a police dispatcher called our home. The dispatcher asked Dan to describe what was going on in as much detail as he could and then periodically relayed Dan's information to the police officers who were en route. I simply watched and waited. The men had already robbed at least two cars and had now succeeded in getting open the trunk of a third. Over the last few weeks the apartment complex manager has issued mutliple warnings of car break-ins in our neighborhood and I was pretty sure these guys were the perpetrators of the other burglaries. They broke windows quickly and expertly, with very little noise, and they never spoke as they methodically went from one car to the next.

I was a little concerned that the culprits would make off with their loot before the officers arrived, or be scared away by the noise of approaching cars. I needn't have worried, however. The police parked their cars at the entrance to our apartment complex and arrived at the scene simultaneously from three separate directions, on foot. Suddenly the stillness of the early morning was broken by repeated shouts of "Police! Get on the ground now!" and the loud barking of the canine unit. To Daniel's deep satisfaction (and my relief), the police were able to apprehend all three men and recover all the car stereos and other items they had stolen.

A few minutes later one of the officers knocked on our door and asked us a bunch of questions (note: if you ever call the police in the middle of the night about something, I recommend getting fully dressed, unless you don't mind being questioned in your bathrobe). It was nearly 4:00 by then and I figured I could still get a little sleep before my alarm was set to go off at 5:00. You may imagine my dismay when our phone rang again around 4:30, shattering any vestiges of sleepiness I still possessed. :) This time it was the apartment complex security patrol. Dan answered the call and I heard him say over and over "It was no problem; I'm glad they were caught; you're very welcome." The security patrol has been trying to catch these guys for weeks and they were very grateful for Dan's assistance. I thought grimly to myself (as I completely abandoned hope of getting any more sleep) that their gratefulness would have been decidely more appreciated if they could have waited until daylight to call.

And so it was, Dan and I had a little extra time before work this morning, but we used it wisely and spent 45 lovely minutes sitting in comfy chairs at Starbucks and drinking lattes together before heading to our respective offices. ;)