The Alarming Visit From the Po Po

Winter Break has turned into one continual Friday night. Kids are up late, friends are frequent visitors, movies and parties are abundant, and nothing very productive is getting accomplished. Last night was no different.

The home security alarm was set around 12:30 a.m., when the kids were all home and accounted for. Kate is best at setting the alarm, and insures that it is set correctly before running off to bed.

The alarm started blaring around 1:00 a.m. I knew the boys were downstairs and assumed that they must have let the dog out for it’s last potty run of the night. I didn’t give it much thought, until my doorbell rang at 1:15.

Frightened, Kate, Bella, and I went to the door together. I shouted for Kate to look through the peep hole before opening the door. Much to my surprise a police officer was at my door, one was in “the woods” with his gun drawn, two more were coming up the walk. I was quite startled by their presence.

“Who is in the house with you?” the police officer pointedly inquired. “Just me and my daughter,” I answered nervously, pointing to Kate and not really thinking much about the other 3 children in the house. “Are you sure there is no one else in the house?” he stated in disbelief. “Oh, well I have 2 daughters, and two sons in the house,” I responded.

“Do you need us to come in, or do you need to come out and talk to us,” he sharply inquired. Still puzzled why I was being questioned, I insisted that nothing was wrong. “Well, someone pushed the panic button on your alarm. Are you sure everything is okay?” he stated. Wondering if this was going to end with the SWAT team propelling down my roof, and crashing through the windows, I told him my son must have set off the alarm while taking the dog out. “No, it was definitely a panic button that was pushed,” he refuted.

I finally convinced him that it was human error, and the police officers left. However, not without them walking around the premises, and making a final determination of their own.

Mike came out of his room when they left. “Are they gone,” he said smiling. “Yes, and thanks for the help,” I barked. “I guess that soda I got out of the garage wasn’t really worth it after all,” he confessed.