Drunken Idiot at 4 AM
Blargh. That’s about the only single word I can come up with to describe this morning’s adventure. First the dog starts barking at 4 AM. Lisa is already awake due to her cold, and gets up before I do. The next thing I hear is her making a noise I hadn’t heard her making before and a thunk. I race out of bed and into the living room to see Lisa leaning against the front door. “There’s someone out there trying to get in!” I peered out the window to see some guy standing there. I took her place at the door and yelled, “What do you want?” He was acting strangely, and a moment later the cause was apparent. He took a big swig from a bottle of Jagermeister he was holding. Meanwhile Lisa is, in a frantic manner, speaking to someone at 911. “He was trying to get in the house, his arm was in the door, but trying to undo the chain…”.
It seems that when I took the dog out to the yard before we went to bed (so he could do his business), I neglected to lock the deadbolt on the door. Normally I would have let him out the garage door, but the kittens were running around in the basement and he isn’t used to them yet. In any regard, I did remember to put the chain in place.
I guess the guy thought he was going home or something. He didn’t seem particularly malicious, just drunk. The Portland Police showed up in pretty short order after Lisa called, and took him. He didn’t put up a struggle or anything, he had a hard time staying upright. Unfortunately, the episode has had a real impact on both Lisa and Morgan. Morgan was quite frightened after hearing his mom’s conversation with the 911 operator, and Lisa is upset as well. I talked to Morgan for a while after the police left in an attempt to help settle his nerves. I think he had a hard time falling asleep after that. Lisa stayed home from work because of her cold, and said she would take Morgan to school later than usual so he could get some more sleep.
It makes me angry that people are so stupid and irresponsible. I hadn’t seen the guy before, but you know I’ll be looking out for him. This is one occasion where I am glad the dog was barking in the middle of the night.
June 2nd, 2004 at 9:10 am
Yikes! That’s frightening. I really, really hate those kind of people, and have a hard time pitying them.
-Jon
June 2nd, 2004 at 9:28 am
I have no pity for the maroon. I doubt Mr. T would have any pity for the fool either.
June 2nd, 2004 at 10:12 am
When I was in college in Salem, I lived in an apartment with two young women. We lived right across from the campus, and the other tenants were mostly good, save for one.
This one woman drank constantly. She was always drunk. From time-to-time she’d knock on our door asking for something to drink. We always turned her away.
One night in early winter, I drove home from Eastern Oregon. I got in late and shuffled off to bed.
At about 4 a.m., we were awakened by the sound of somebody in the kitchen. We checked each other’s bedrooms, and found that it wasn’t one of us. A stranger was in the apartment. We had no weapons, so I marched out, timidly, to confront the intruder.
It was the drunken woman. Apparently I’d forgotten to lock the door when I came in late, and the drunken woman had just let herself in. She had a bottle of wine in her hand. She was already soused. “I was just going to borrow this bottle,” she said, at some great mental cost.
I took the bottle from her and said, “Get out.”
When she didn’t move, I said it again. She staggered out the front door, which she had left wide open.
In the morning, we called the landlord. The woman was gone from the apartments by evening.
June 2nd, 2004 at 11:00 am
I think our problem stems from a neighbor as well. Last year, our nice neighbors moved out of the rental next door (we own our house), and 4 people moved in. They have a band that plays in the house regularly, and have parties too. I have noticed an increase in undesireable behavior in the neighborhood since they moved in. On Monday, Lisa and I were harassed by a drunk guy sitting in a chair in their front yard. I don’t know if he had any relation to the neighbors. He was bordering on beligerant. He kept insisting that we overwatered our plants, even though the soil was bone dry.
I could tell he made Lisa uncomfortable.