The car next door.....

This got so complicated.

My neighbor went away and put us on house watch. We turn on lights and turn off lights while the kids on the other side feed the cat. It’s a simple job and we always help each other when one of us goes away.

At about 5:15 the other night my wife screams at me, “Arthur, get outside, someone is stealing our neighbors car!”

I had to make some decisions fast. This being Canada, I have no hand gun. Actually, I wouldn’t have one anyway but I thought I’d throw that one in. I thought about any weapon but quickly realized I wouldn’t die for my car, so I sure as hell won’t die for my neighbors. The weapon of choice was my cell phone because I could take a picture and dial 911.

I ran out and found a man in a Mercedes sedan waiting while a woman I didn’t know was driving my neighbors BMW sports car down the driveway. I decided quickly not to throw myself on the hood because it would hurt, but I did run out in front (or side) of the car and stop her.

She rolled down the window and when confronted explained that her boyfriend was going to fix the car and she was just driving it. She showed me she had the keys. OK, I guess it’s OK so Linda (she said  that was her name) drove away. She did have my neighbor’s keys and they were not in the car originally, at least I thought not. My wife had written down the Mercedes license plate number so we at least had a lead.

The email explaining the guy coming to take the car was sent at 11:00 a.m. that morning. It arrived at 11:00 p.m. that evening, making me feel much better.

I waited until Sunday morning to call my neighbor and woke him up (I didn’t care) to let him know what had happened. Thankfully they didn’t get away  with the car before we got out there, or we would have called the police and reported a stolen car. It would have been considered stolen until 11:00 p.m. when the email arrived.