Gatecrash

When my wife came home yesterday afternoon, the gate to our back yard was punched through. She checked the perimeter of our house, and nothing was amiss. After she called the police, two officers arrived and explained what happened.

Six blocks away two men tried to break into a house. The pattern has been the same for over a dozen burglaries during the past year. The target was a home occupied by Asians, who are notorious for keeping lots of jewelry and cash on hand. The men rang three times, then prised [I’ve always thought the English spelling was cool] the front door with a crowbar. One of the residents was home and had been slow to respond to the initial doorbell. He was not slow to respond to this signal, however and dialed 911. What seemed to be the entire Foster City police force converged on the house, and the men split up and fled on foot.

One of the men hopped the fence to our backyard, and the police, after determining that no one was home, smashed through our locked wooden gate. He jumped back over the fence and plunged into the lagoon. He was not a fast swimmer, and they nabbed him.

The police asked my wife if she would like the City to repair our fence [excuse me ma’am, would you prefer to spend $250 of your own money……or not?] We’ll wait a few days for the man from Parks and Recreation to show up, then we’ll give them a polite reminder. It’s hard to be irritated with the boys in blue when they’re doing their job and doing it well.