The Transistor
April 23, 2007 | permalink
I remembered this story the other day. Why, I cannot say; I was in the middle of a completely unrelated conversation with two completely unrelated people. Unrelated to the story, that is. Though come to think of it, they are both unrelated to me as well. And each other. But I digress...
I was maybe 14, and had babysitting duty that day. The Old Man had something to do in the afternoon, and I was supposed to make sure to get to the house before the littler ones came home. Upon arriving, I found a note on the door, in The Old Man's hand. The note said:
The dog is loose inside. Be careful not to let him out when you come in.
Gentle Readers, at this time in our lives, we did not have a dog. I was coming home to an empty, unlocked house, like I had a zillion times, and there had never been any weird notes like this left for me. I couldn't decide at the time (though I have a pretty good idea now) if the note was some kind of joke on me, or a strange attempt to deter anyone who might be walking around the neighborhood looking to burgle a house in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. Either way, I thought it was just so odd.
Anyway, I left the note up for the others to see and went about the afternoon. The Littler Ones came home. The Star and Rockette came home. We snickered at the note, and how weird The Old Man was. And then we forgot about it. At least, I did.
A little bit later there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find a man with a clipboard. He introduced himself and said he was from the Department of Animal Control, told me that they were doing a Census of Household Pets, and asked how many animals were living here.
None, I said. (Remember the note?)
What about this dog? he asked, pointing at the note that I had oh so cleverly left on the door. He starts trying to peer around me in the doorway.
Oh that! I stammered something about how it was a joke, The Old Man is such a prankster, ha ha ha... It was clear that he didn't believe a word of what I was saying, and thought that I was standing there lying to his face. He asked again about pets in the house, saying he didn't care if the dog was licensed or anything- he just needed to know if there were any here. I told him again that we had no pets, and he made a couple of notes on his clipboard and left.
Now, I ask you, what are the fucking odds of that happening? I mean, really? The one day there is an odd, cryptic note on the door about a dog, the Animal Control people come around?
I'm telling you, life is weird.
Posted in Family Matters & Random & The Old Man & The PastVegetable Curry and Nan was the last entry.
Last Day of Summer is the next entry.
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two things:
1) thanks for the link! i linked you back. because it's only civilized... and i like your blog. and
2) um... what about the note? when the Old Man got home, did he have an explanation? i'm SO confused! was it really just a joke? how insane!
What are the chances? Too freaking funny. Are you sure you weren't set up and the Animal Control guy wasn't a joke?
The Old Man told me later that he had a sudden anxiety about leaving the house open, and put the note up as a deterrent to would be thieves of opportunity. He swore he knew nothing about the Animal Control people being in the neighborhood and that their presence was a co-incidence.