Freaky Friday

There were bricks everywhere. I wasn't sure why or what I was supposed to be doing with them or even if anyone else was present.

Then I woke up. That's how I started my day.

We close early at work today and since I'm taking an extra long weekend (tacking on a vacation day on Tuesday), I've got a lot to get done. That shot to hell my early morning wake-up routine which is usually rather leisurely. I don't generally spring out of bed with the alarm -- without doing a complete about face right back into the sheets once I've silenced it. But today, I took those few steps east and flipped on the light. To put it mildly, Ozzie was not amused.

Once outside, I had to do a double-take in the dark stillness. There was a light on inside the car. And the door wasn't quite latched. WTF? As I approached it, I saw everything from the driver's door pocket lying on the seat. Uh-oh. This doesn't look good.

I threw open the door and held my breath. The console section door stood open -- that was the light source. All of the mother's jazz tapes were still there. Everything from the driver's pocket appeared to be there. Even my iPod adapter cassette was still in the player and the change (60 cents or so) that I'd thrown next to the gear shift was still there. I don't think anything was taken. It looked like they were looking for wallets and CDs. Otherwise, why would they have bypassed the change?

I guess when I ran to get some cigs for the mother last night, I neglected to lock up. I'm usually very good about it. In fact, the night before I had locked the car, but inadvertently left my phone inside. If I'd done that last night, but locked it, would they have broken a window to get to it? I don't know. I'm just glad I didn't have to find out.

I'm feeling grateful, but very unnerved. Ours is usually a pretty quiet neighborhood, though I know that nowhere is immune. It's an odd feeling to know that strangers have been pawing through your crap -- even if is just that, crap. It's your crap, ya know? Grimy little bastards. I'd really like to kick their asses.

Now I'm wondering if anything is gone from outside. I hesitate to upset the mother since nothing in the car is missing, but what if my lawnmower is gone? (That might actually be a blessing. I really do need a new one ...) I can't think of anything else outside that might be of any real value to anyone. Especially what appears to be kids scrounging for cash and CDs to trade in or pawn.

What a weird day. And the scary part? It's still very early ...