Resistance Is Futile

There were sixteen bags of candy, mostly bite-size chocolate bars of various types and some Skittles, sitting on our dining room table for the past three days.

Last night I came home to find one opened.

There are fifteen and a half bags of candy sitting on our dining room table with three days to go until Hallowe'en.

We're gonna need more candy.

Balloons Are Up. Dead To Follow

Our Hallowe'en decorations are finally up.

Almost.

The balloons are emplaced and, except for the ones over on the far side of the driveway (which include the headless horseman and the hearse), inflated. We have a couple of new ones including a large orange and black spider with glowing swirly lights in its abdomen. Neighbor Dan has a similar one but its abdomen is white and the swirly lights are multi-colored. I like ours better.

Neighbor Dan has had his decorations up since the first week of October. My brother intended to put ours up shortly after he saw Neighbor Dan's yard but his truck broke (again) that weekend so he couldn't retrieve anything from storage and then his truck was stolen so he mowed the lawn instead which was necessary but insufficient as this is the time of year when the grass shoots up about a foot over night and sets its seeds. Its all getting a bit raggedy already. He finally got around to placing balloons a few days ago.

Our yard still looks sparse compared to Neighbor Dan's but that's mostly because a lot of our decorations are not inflatables: the zombie wedding party, tombstones, dancing skeletons, etc. that really shouldn't be put out too far in advance although there's hardly any chance of rain anymore. Even the TV weather people have officially announced the end of Rainy Season. The days have been glorious, warm and sunny; the nights clear, cool and dry.

We have a couple new zombies, too. Actually, three, I think, plus the dog skeleton. They're the top-half-of-the-body-bursting-through-the-ground type zombies and will go well with the tombstones. One of them arrived broken and when my brother called the company they said they'd received a number of complaints about that one and they would refund his money and he could just go ahead and keep it anyway. That's the way to ensure customer loyalty. The skeleton dog is poseable and is currently leashed to the picket fence along the walkway to our front door. I don't understand how a skeleton can have ears and a nose, but otherwise he's kinda cute.

People have been driving by to check out the neighborhood prior to the pillaging spree this Friday. They seem to be impressed, if they are new to the area, or, if not, satisfied the tradition continues.

Oh, and I voted for the fourth time this year, not that it'll do any good in this district. Maybe in the statewide races.

Steal From My Brother Once, Shame On You. Steal From My Brother Twice . . .

My brother has the learning curve of a lizard.

The police rang our doorbell at 4:00 this morning to let him know they had found his truck. (He was already up having been called by them a few minutes earlier to announce their imminent arrival. I woke up at the sound of the bell.) When they saw who was at the door, the cats all took off like the Angel of the Lord was come to take them to their just reward. We didn't see Paribanour or Mittens again for about six hours.

At first, this particular service--waking people in the middle of the night to notify them of the location of their property--seemed a bit, I don't know, superfluous, since the truck was in the driveway when I went to bed. (Apparently, I don't process too well upon first waking unexpectedly.)

The truck was not in the driveway.

It had been stolen.

It had been stolen and used as a getaway vehicle on a crime spree lasting several hours before being left in a ditch behind the town high school a couple of miles away. Several vehicles in our neighborhood (including, it turned out, Neighbor Dan's truck but not my car) had been entered and pilfered but it was my brother's truck they stole.

Because he left the keys in it.

He left the keys in it! After having his wallet stolen out of the truck only a couple of months ago, he left the keys in it!

So we stood in the driveway, under the eaves of the garage, in the dark and intermittent pouring rain with lightning crashing nearby and the tip of one of Neighbor Dan's palm trees rubbing against an electrical wire in the wind, arcing and sending sparks flying, filling the air with the scent of ozone and burning wood while my brother filled out a criminal complaint form and answered the same questions to each of the three officers who eventually showed up one by one.

They warned him that, although they would try to get the truck back to him as soon as possible, it might take a while if the forensics crew decided they wanted to look for DNA or fingerprints. Also, at the moment they were using the truck as bait, having staked out the area in hopes the perp(s) came back.

As it was, they called at seven to let us know we could come and retrieve it. It was stuck in the ditch, bogged down because of the rain. Neighbor Dan ended up coming by and pulling it out.

The truck works fine and, at first, my brother thought he hadn't lost anything, himself, but on further inspection a diamond ring that belonged to our uncle, of mostly sentimental value, and a check he had out to pay the utility bill, necessitating a visit to the bank to change account numbers, were missing. He added those items to the complaint form. Neighbor Dan may have lost a (full) cash deposit bag from his business. The problem with living in an area as safe as ours is that people get careless.

Let's hope, for my brother's sake, that third time's the charm.

The Wheel of Justice Begins Its Slow Turning

My brother spent the morning in court.

Today was the first scheduled trial date for the guy accused of breaking into my brother's truck and stealing his wallet. In the end, my brother never saw the guy and, apparently, the trial was continued to another day.

The alleged perp remains in jail due to the fact the court won't consider bail because he has a long list of prior convictions and was already out on parole when he was arrested for using my brother's card to buy some cigarettes. He's nineteen years old and looking at two more felony charges now. If he's convicted it's going to be a long time before he's out walking around again.

He apparently had an accomplice, as well, that my brother just found out about and who may have been the one to physically remove the wallet. That one is only fifteen years old and, unlike the first guy, will be charged as a minor, not that it makes much difference since he's been in juvie detention in the next county over for the last 21 days on other charges, already.

I hope I'm wrong but neither one of these winners seems capable of learning from experience.

Nicely Done, Javert. Nicely Done.

The police have arrested a suspect in the theft of my brother's wallet.

My brother just received some documents from the court detailing the name of the suspect (might could be a good ol' boy from the sound of it, if he is the one), the charges (two: theft from an unoccupied vehicle and use of stolen cards over $100) and his bail ($5000). The $5000 amount is listed next to each charge so I'm not clear on whether that's the total amount or per charge. It might be a moot point since the court has already judged him indigent and assigned a public defender which means he might not have even the 10% cash necessary to post bond.

The alleged thief has also been enjoined by the court to stay away from the scene of the crime (assuming he makes bail) and to have no contact of any kind with my brother.

There are several more pages to the document requesting details on my brother's loss (minimal), any insurance reimbursements (none), psychological trauma (also minimal/none), funeral expenses (its a really generic form), etc., including an essay section on "How I Feel About Being a Crime Victim."

First court appearance is set for October 10.

An Exception to the Exception?

I have a  policy of not harming spiders, even when they build webs in the house, because of the good they do, provided the webs are kept out of sight, i.e., down by the floor under the cabinet overhangs, behind immovable objects such as sofas, etc.

Overnight, someone broke the rule and this morning I found a small web with small occupant strung in my bathroom between the sink faucet and the mirror behind it. I was about to remove it when I noticed the corpse of a mosquito lying beneath it. It was one of those small, silent mosquitoes we have down here that are very difficult to see and give no warning, going for knuckles and other joints and raising extremely painful (and long lasting) welts.

So now I'm torn.

There Is a Fine Line Between Innocence and Irresponsibility

And my brother crossed it.

Apparently, he's been across it for some time now but it's just this weekend that it finally caught up with him.

It's not just that he leaves his truck unlocked. We live in a very safe area of a very safe town. I also leave my car unlocked and, when it's not Rainy Season (or even when it is and the weatherperson is convincing enough about an upcoming temporary dry spell), will leave the windows down* as well. We seldom lock the house, either, even when both of us are away. No, that's the allowable innocence which comes with living here.

It seems my brother, however, has been in the habit of leaving his wallet in his truck. With his driver's license and insurance card in it. And his credit cards.

He could (and did) get away with that here, at home. But, this weekend he went to visit his girlfriend at her place down by the beach. The thieves didn't break anything (didn't have to) and didn't take anything except the wallet. The police took a report although there's not much they can do about it since the bad guy(s) probably had a few hours head start. My brother spent some time on the phone cancelling the cards so he's not out any money (which is the one thing he never keeps in his wallet, anyway) and the insurance company will issue a new card so his only expense should be replacing the driver's license.

And the inconvenience of having to pay for things with checks until his replacement cards arrive.

Will he learn his lesson, change his behavior, or will he figure, considering how long he's been lucky, he's got another twenty years before it happens again?

*Windows up on a clear, sunny day will heat the interior to the point where getting in will suck the air right out of your lungs.