Today I'm a nervous wreck. I woke up as usual at about 3 am and I lay there in bed for a few minutes just thinking about what my day will include. Do I work on a customer quilt? Do I clean house first? What will I have for breakfast? Things like that are going through my mind when I hear POW....... POW, POW. Gunshots right outside my bedroom window, in my backyard, not 3 feet from me.
I roll off the bed, grabbing my bedside phone as I go, and crawl along the floor to the bedroom door as I'm calling 911. Bullets do go through wood walls and glass windows very easily ya know. My safety is important. If I hear the shots, I know I'm ok enough to get the heck out of the way. If I don't hear the shots, it's too late for me already. Know what I mean?
Most of the time I'm immune to the sounds of gunfire around here. It happens so often that sometimes I don't even flinch at the sounds. When it happens not 3 feet from me, I jump from the sudden loud sound more than knowing it's a gun. It's only later, when thinking about what just happened, that I start shaking and become scared.
For the past few months my neighborhood has really gotten bad..... again. Over the years it will get bad around here, then things will calm down for awhile, before it starts heating up again. What happened last night was that the house next door was broken into again. This is the second time in about 3 months it has been broken into. The home owner came home just in time to find someone in the house. The burglars fired at the home owner as they were making their escape. The gun the burglars used belonged to the home owner. The burglars had just stolen it. As they say, most people are shot with their own gun.
As I sit here type talking about what happened I'm shaking like a leaf. It takes awhile for me to react to what has happened. I'm the one who usually stays calm in an emergency and react to it later. It took the police about 20 minutes to arrive. One policeman. He didn't even try to look for the burglars. The police walked through the house to be sure no one was still there, took a report, and left.
I believe if this had happened in the rich part of the city the police would have been all over the area looking for someone. In the ghetto area, where I live, the police have an "I don't really care" attitude. Am I worried? Of course! But what can I do about it? I would love to move. But where? I can barely afford to pay a low mortgage payment. I know I can't afford to pay high rent someplace else. There's no guarantee I won't have the same problems someplace else either.
I did have a finished quilt to post about but I think I'll save that for tomorrow. Right now I'm going to drink a couple of cups of coffee and calm myself down.
I did have a finished quilt to post about but I think I'll save that for tomorrow. Right now I'm going to drink a couple of cups of coffee and calm myself down.
2 comments:
Maybe pour a little something in that coffee! I'm so glad you're safe, but your neighborhood really doesn't sound like a good place to be. The cops are really helpful too. Around here gunshots usually mean someone's taking shots at a coon in the garden or at some stray cat that made a nuisance of itself. Don't think I'd care for city life where gunshots usually mean a person is being shot at. Keep your head down & stay safe.
So sad for your situation Anita. I know how you feel. We are in the same dilema. Would love to move, but where? and how? I am fearful that the worse the economy gets, the worse our safety issues will also become. less income for the cities. less police on duty, more people robbing, etc etc. I will pray that BOTH of us receive a HUGE rain of money from the heavens. THEN we can both move.
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