Mug Shot

Our neighborhood has mature trees that shade the road as you enter, the houses are unique from each other and are well taken care of... But since moving into our house a year and a half ago, we've learned that our neighborhood isn't as perfect as it looks. Last summer while talking with some neighbors, we found out there have been several car theft attempts in our little strip of the street. A month ago, we drove up after going out to dinner to find a fire truck sitting a few houses down with just it's lights on. All we could see were a few people standing around what we thought was a corpse, then it tried to get up; he was taken away in a ambulance, very quietly. Then, a week ago, Eric came home in the evening and said there was a police car in front of our house. And he just sat in his car making notes with his headlights on for almost an hour. We're not sure why...

The most recent event happened yesterday as I was turning onto our street. The driver of an oncoming car flashed a hand gesture over his steering wheel right as I was passing our "Neighborhood Watch" sign. I didn't know the "assailant" and, at first, I didn't know the symbol he directed toward me. After a millisecond of confusion, I realized the two fingers looked like a peace sign. Whether it was a time traveler from the '70's or just a quick half-wave, I was caught of guard. For the most part, our neighbors are good people; I should be the one offering a friendly salute. And don't worry about our safety - apparently we are well patrolled by officials. And hippies...