The neighborhood's gone CRAZY!
A neighbor of mine brought something to our attention today when we ventured out into the bone-chilling, wet cold to let the kids run around and get some air. Three guys sitting in a car across the street. They had been sitting there for 25 minutes before we came out. Not a familiar car. We let them sit there for awhile and then our good neighbor and my husband went to see what was up.
'Yo! Whaddya doin'?'
No sooner did they get to the car when they noticed all the police stuff inside. Cop radio communication thing, coffee cups and Dunkin' Donut tissues.
'Oh - hello officers. Just checkin'.'
An hour later, a couple blocks down, the crap hit the fan. Cops everywhere. Two houses on the next block raided. All of us were gawking at it and chatting about it as we shivered on our stoops. Drugs they say. That one house has tiny little screaming kids in it. It's a shame we agree - that neighborhood has gone down the tubes. And can you imagine raising kids and dealing dope out of the house? It's a neighborhood city, the City of Brotherly Love. One block in the wrong direction and you could be in trouble.
Twenty minutes later a phone call from a friend. A body has been found down by the creek. No information. The only thing that flashes through my mind is the aquaintance that another woman and I spoke with yesterday evening. Her face was nearly unrecognizable. Swollen and bruised - some kinda weird, yellowish, pussy patch breaking up the large purple patches. She was just out of a 4 day hospital stay after the ex boyfriend beat the crap out of her. I looked into her swollen, bruised eyes and told her to go buy a gun NOW. She protested - the Protection From Abuse order. I told her that flimsy piece of paper isn't going to protect her from the whack-job that did that to her. You're gonna have to pop the bastard when he comes back for you, I tell her, because it doesn't seem like he wants to let you live without him.
Is it she? I don't know. Whoever it is I pray for them right now. Those little kids in that frigging drug house. That battered woman.
The doors are locked. The guns are loaded - but locked away in the safe. My trusty shotgun by the bed - with a damn trigger lock on it. Lots of prayers to say tonight.
'Yo! Whaddya doin'?'
No sooner did they get to the car when they noticed all the police stuff inside. Cop radio communication thing, coffee cups and Dunkin' Donut tissues.
'Oh - hello officers. Just checkin'.'
An hour later, a couple blocks down, the crap hit the fan. Cops everywhere. Two houses on the next block raided. All of us were gawking at it and chatting about it as we shivered on our stoops. Drugs they say. That one house has tiny little screaming kids in it. It's a shame we agree - that neighborhood has gone down the tubes. And can you imagine raising kids and dealing dope out of the house? It's a neighborhood city, the City of Brotherly Love. One block in the wrong direction and you could be in trouble.
Twenty minutes later a phone call from a friend. A body has been found down by the creek. No information. The only thing that flashes through my mind is the aquaintance that another woman and I spoke with yesterday evening. Her face was nearly unrecognizable. Swollen and bruised - some kinda weird, yellowish, pussy patch breaking up the large purple patches. She was just out of a 4 day hospital stay after the ex boyfriend beat the crap out of her. I looked into her swollen, bruised eyes and told her to go buy a gun NOW. She protested - the Protection From Abuse order. I told her that flimsy piece of paper isn't going to protect her from the whack-job that did that to her. You're gonna have to pop the bastard when he comes back for you, I tell her, because it doesn't seem like he wants to let you live without him.
Is it she? I don't know. Whoever it is I pray for them right now. Those little kids in that frigging drug house. That battered woman.
The doors are locked. The guns are loaded - but locked away in the safe. My trusty shotgun by the bed - with a damn trigger lock on it. Lots of prayers to say tonight.
posted by Grizzly Mama | 00:30
11 Comments:
Scary- my thoughts are with you. The one good thing about Champaign is that security never really is much of a worry.
Thanks Steven. It's really a nice neighborhood we live in but like I said a few blocks in the wrong direction and you're in the WRONG neighborhood.
I'm glad that Champaign doesn't have these problems. I vaguely remember a time when we didn't lock the door - back when I was a kid in Denver. I guess I've lived here so long that it's just an everyday concern and I don't conciously think about it much.
I'm the same way when I'm in Chicago- 19 days and counting from today- so I understand completely.
I understand - you have kids, but the trigger locks are too slow.
Check out one the solutions I spoke about here
These will let you get a weapon in seconds... and still keep them in a safe. (a very small safe) I don't know if the have anything similar for shot guns....
Tell your neighbor/friend to be prepared to defend herself. The restraining order is just a piece of paper. I have several posts on this subject... many newspaper articles are out there... The police can only do something after the fact - after the crime - and in all too many cases after the murder has happened.
Zendo Deb - we have a very nice safe for the handguns. We don't have trigger locks on the handguns as they are in the safe. It's the shotgun that we don't have any way to secure other than a trigger lock. I don't like it but until the girls are a little older I don't want to just leave it ready to fire like that. My thinking is that odds are with me that if someone broke in downstairs and made their way up - I would most likely have time to get it ready. Of course I may not, too. That's why I don't like the trigger lock.
I tried to make that woman understand that the PFA would not protect her. Knowing people who have struggled free of abusive relationships I can see that she is just screwed up in her head right now. She needs help and of course she needs that gun to defend herself. She's very in the 'victim' thinking and acting and I think can't imagine herself defending herself in any way - always needing someone else to make it stop.
I don't know her well, but if I see her around I will urge her again to get help AND get a gun.
Thanks.
Scary indeed - you gotta protect yourself these day. In the UK we'd have no way to do this
Wow. I have countless neurosis- luckily, none of them involve a violent need for love & affection, like your neighbor/friend.
However, one is a fear of doing what you're doing, Monica! I'd be scared to death, raising a child these days. Even in the best neighborhood, there are still a million things that can go wrong.
DV I feel for you over there in the UK with the insane gun laws. Just remember - many things can be used as weapons! A pen, for example, can do some wonderful damage to an eyeball, an eardrum or straight up the nose right into the brain. A fire-poker - wow - that's a good weapon. :-) Do some major damage...that's all you can hope for. And it's definitely possible, 99% of it is deciding to do it if needed.
M&M - you don't know the meaning of the word neurosis - LOL! It's the things you CAN'T protect them from that freak me out the most. It is a scary proposition having kids and I didn't realize how scary until I was holding my first baby in my arms. Naively I thought, 'If I can just get her to 18 safe and sound I'll sleep at night'. HA! When she was about 1 year old I realized it's a lifetime deal. I always remember that when I'm annoyed with them - they or I could be gone in a whiff of a moment with no warning. It's a very vulnerable thing.
Thanks both for visiting!
It is kind of amazing how in Philadelphia you can just walk across a street and be in a different neighborhood. I visited a buddy there back in the 80's and he showed me around, he was a couple blocks off Broad st. and Cypress maybe? I forget, in that region anyhow. We walked around a lot since driving (or finding parking for my old beater-car, rather) was a pain.
It is amazing Dirtcrashr. 2 blocks down and if you're walking there and you aint the right color - you just might be dead. Facts don't make the statement racist - it's just the damn truth.
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