This afternoon I was working at our dining room table with the wood door open for light. The doorbell rang. Two teenagers that I didn't know were standing there. The boy asked to use our phone. I asked what was going on, and he said some guys were trying to jump him. He wanted to call his mom. I couldn't find the landline, so I gave him my cell. He called from outside, and I told them to wait for her on the porch. Habib said to ask them in, so I did, and they seemed glad to come inside. I think the girl was his girlfriend- they were standing huddled together. I tried to talk to them a bit. I told them they'd done the right thing to knock on our door and that there was always someone around. She was friendly, but he didn't really hear me. After a while they went back outside, worried that his dad wouldn't see them. Leila and Ali wanted to watch them, so we hung around at the door. Finally his dad came. The girl called a "thank you" but the boy still didn't say anything. They drove away.
There's lots of gang activity at this nearby high school, I guess. They go to the junior high next to it, and I'm sure there is a lot there as well. It's a little frightening. But I'm glad we were around to help.
3 comments:
I'm glad you were around to help too, but as I was reading the post I began to feel worried for you.
Do you remember Thom's story? How when he was working in his neighbor's garage someone came running up and said there'd been an accident and needed help. Thom's neighbor threw him the keys to the car and Thom jumped in to go help -- and ended up driving all over the city at knifepoint. The man was a bank robber trying to get away....
Still, helping is the right instinct.
Here's my neighborhood story. The other night a woman came by and asked if I'd like to buy cookies to help support the homeless. "How much?" I asked. "Four Dollars" she said. So I said how about I just give you the four dollars, which I did. Then I asked, "What's the name of the organization?"
"Oh, she said, "It's for me. I'm homeless."
Are comments this long even allowed? I'm using another computer which lets me comment.
Where did the woman get the cookies? I think just giving her the money was a good idea.
I didn't let the kids in the house right away because I wasn't sure of what was going on. But H was home, and he said they should come in.
I didn't know Thom's story. That's why one should always call 911 first.
oh, my colleague just reported today that a high school age gal went knocking on doors in my colleague's neighborhood asking for money and sponsorships. when my colleague's husband said no, the girl got shrill and asked why he couldn't just give her ten dollars -- for nothing in exchange, i might add. she assumed that because there were some mercedeses and bmws parked in the neighborhood that apparently everyone there was rich. (needless to say, my colleague does *not* drive either type of car, and having just had twins on a schoolteacher's salary, is not rich either.) the girl tried a sob story about how her father had been shot and killed when she was just 14. when he still said no, the girl told my colleague's husband, "f*&% you!" remember, now, that she knocked on his door! my colleague, who was running the vacuum upstairs, took off after her, followed her around the neighborhood, and then caught her in a lie (when asked what high school she went to, she made the mistake of saying the name of the high school we teach at! oops! then she tried to claim she didn't have english class this year, which is an impossibility at our school.) my colleague made her apologize to her husband!
weird business afoot these days.
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