I recently moved. After a very long final day of moving into the new and cleaning the old, I returned to my new apartment at about 11pm. With one last car full of refrigerator/freezer stuff and assorted odds and ends unloaded I first gave in to hunger; no gas to cook with{surprise!}, no grill and no microwave, so...cheese and crackers it is! Then I gave in to exhaustion, falling asleep on the couch and then retiring to the sparse new bedroom for a solid night's sleep.
Until..... I awoke at about 6am hearing a car approaching from the house behind mine (a shared, right of way driveway) and then the car stopped, idling. Curious, I look out to see an empty space where I believed my car to be (shit!) and my new neighbor stopped in the driveway. Relief (my car was not stolen) turned to chagrin ( my car was blocking the drive) as I dashed downstairs and outside bleary eyed in my slippers. And then chagrin mixed with embarrassment as I got out and realized that not only had I left the car blocking the drive but I had also left the passenger door open (all night!) on what had been my last trip in the night before with arms loaded. I close the (very frosty in and out) car door and approach my neighbor introducing myself and apologizing at the same time. Her response doesn't make sense for either my apology or introduction (reminder, it was 6am and I was bleary minded as well as bleary eyed) so I try again, something like " I am sooo sorry, I just moved in yesterday, I guess it was a long day and....uh.... my name is The Keeper" . This time there is no reply at all, but I now realize why her initial response puzzled me; she hadn't been speaking to me, she was speaking into her two way radio. Then her silence ends with something like " Ok thanks, I think he's right here... Still sleepy and puzzled I introduce myself again, hand extended- "Hi, sorry about this, I'm the Keeper heh heh..." "I know" she says, "I just called in your plate, my name is Detective Cassie Mcleary with the Vermont State Police." Ohhh yeah, now I remember hearing that there was a cop living behind me. But no longer driving a cruiser, the recently promoted Detective is driving an unmarked sedan. This was all slowly falling into place in my still sleepy and reeling brain as she explained that my vehicle looked a little suspicious and possibly stolen, being left in the middle of a driveway with a door wide open on what happened to be the morning after Halloween.
Nice to meet you neighbor....I mean Officer....I mean Detective....er...eh, ummm, I'll just be moving my car now, um, sorry...
At least the battery hadn't died.
Peace to the neighbors and the Planet...
