Temerity Jane

Ok, ok, fine.

So, last weekend, I had to call 911 for the first time ever.

I had been babysitting, and I was sooooo tired, but by the time I got home, I was wide awake again. I didn’t end up laying down to sleep until about 2:30, 3am, somewhere in that area. I was juuust falling asleep when I was startled awake by this loud banging that sounded like it was coming from the front door. And it was that unpleasant kind of jerk-awake moment where your heart pounds and stuff, so I was startled and disoriented.

I started thinking maybe my roommate got locked out or something, but he had gone to bed long before me, so I was pretty sure it couldn’t be him, so I didn’t want to go down and check. The banging stopped, though, so I relaxed. Just as I closed my eyes, though, it started up again, louder this time. Not normal knocking, but the really loud, scare-the-crap-out-of-you kind of banging.

This time, though, I heard someone yell “Who is it?” and I realized it wasn’t my door – I live in a townhouse, with a lot of other townhouses around, so sometimes it’s hard to tell.

In response to the “Who is it?” I heard a man’s voice yell, and then the woman yelled back “Don’t be banging on my door like that!” and then it started.

UnbeLIEVEable yelling.

Now, I have to say, my opinion might be slightly skewed, or at least might have been at first – I hate yelling. I’m terrified of yelling. It scares me and makes me cry, even if I’m not the one being yelled AT. I just can’t take it. So I was up and wide awake once again.

And this wasn’t just normal yelling, like a person outside yelling to a person inside. This was “OPEN THIS MOTHERFUCKIN DOOR!” and “WHERE THE MOTHERFUCKIN KIDS AT!” and really really SCARY yelling.

I peeked out my window, but it was so dark, I couldn’t see anything or really even tell which townhouse it was coming from. I paced around in my room for a couple of minutes, and the guy’s yelling just escalated. You know how sometimes you get so upset, or so mad, or something, and words just keep coming out of your mouth, and you’re completely out of control and heading for hysterical? That’s what this guy sounded like, but not so much “hysterical” as “I’m gonna KILL you!” All I could think was, please let that woman be smart enough to not come out of her house.

I let this go on for a few minutes, I mean, what could I do, really, you know? But it just didn’t STOP. Maybe it seemed like it was longer than it was, but it was 3 in the morning, and I really can’t describe to you how out of hand this guy was, so finally, I just picked up my phone and dialed 911. I didn’t want to be all Kitty Genovese syndrome about it. I was so worked up, I was having the hardest time getting words out, explaining that it wasn’t MY house, but one of the townhouses nearby, but thankfully the operator said “We’re getting another call at such and such an address, is that where you are too?” and I said “Yes!” and she said there were officers in the area and they were coming.

A couple of minutes later, the sirens started up, and this guy must have been REALLY insane, or on something, because you could hear them coming and he wasn’t stopping with the yelling and the screaming. I could see the blue lights and such out my window so finally I felt safe enough to venture downstairs, for a cigarette to calm me down and to assure myself the police would take this man a way.

Well, they sure did. Took about four of them to get him on the ground, with another 4 of them standing around him, and the whole time, he kept up with the yelling and the screaming about how he shouldn’t be treated like this and my god, just on and on, with all the police around him and everything. I think they finally had to mace him or something, he started yelling “CAN’T BREATHE. CAN’T BREATHE. CAN’T BREATHE.” about 112 times. By this time, the police had had enough and just said oh, shut up, if you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t talk. Took two of them to lift him up and toss him in one of the 4 or 5 police cars they had there, and I stayed outside and watched until I was sure he was gone.

Where I used to live, I don’t think I even would have blinked at something like that, but here, in a really family oriented, nice little townhouse community, it was so strange, and so unexpected.

I sure hope he doesn’t ever come back.