Cop & Robbers

This being Saturday, I slept in for  bit. Not too late, as I was summoned to end 'The Great Kitty Famine of October 18th,' a tragic piece of feline history. Unfortunately, this event is doomed to repeat itself over and over as 'The Great Kitty Famine of October 19th' and then 'The Great Kitty Famine of October 20th', and so on.

After turning on the radio (damn you, pledge week) and opening the blinds and curtains, I suddenly realize the dog being walked by the 2 men across the street is a serious looking German Shepherd and the 2 men are dressed in the same dark blue outfits and carrying guns. Big guns. Big guns that are drawn. The police are looking for someone.

I immediately check my doors, as I am pretty casual about locking the place up. Don't need any criminals using my house as a hideout, 

holding starving cats as hostages. Yikes, the back door is unlocked, making my house accessible by simply applying a bit of pressure with your pinky finger. 

The little feral cat I have been feeding is waiting patiently by the side of the house staring at my window waiting for breakfast but I don't want to go out there just yet. I don't know what the police are looking for and would feel very silly getting caught in a crossfire while wearing a torn sweater, black "comfy" pants, yellow Crocs and no bra. Sorry, little cat, you'll just have to wait.

I saw they had our street blockaded on either end as cops in cars and on foot wandered up and down. This went on for about 30 minutes. Finally, they removed the blockades and my neighbor, a retired man across the street, pulls into his driveway in his Crown Vic. He has a huge radio tower in his backyard and between that and his car I always took him as a retired cop and figure he'll know what is going on. But he doesn't. He did, however, have to wait down the street before he could come home.

Two more cops walked by and told us they were after a robber and the K9 unit caught him hiding in the blackberry brambles at the bicycle path edge of our street.

Now that the bad guy is gone, our block has exploded with activity by residents that were either stuck in or stuck away from their homes. The teen-age skateboarders, the home-improvers, the spandex-clad bicyclists, the leave rakers, the dog-walkers and the autumn gardeners are all out to take advantage of what looks like a beautiful, October Saturday.

All, that is, but for one alleged felon with dog bites and bramble scratches.