Sunday, June 28, 2009 And things get worse...

Mike and I were going to BBQ at my mom's today. Because Mike works nights and my hours have gotten out of whack since I've been out of work, we got here early in the morning, Mike around 5AM and me a couple of hours later. Mike slept upstairs at his sister's, and I slept at my mom's while she went to church.

While we slept, somebody lifted up the screen in the living room window, lowered the fan, and slipped inside my mom's apartment. She's got a dog, but he was in his cage. The thief or thieves quickly riffled through all three apartments. Mike's phone, keys, and wallet are gone. His sister's purse, keys, wallet, and Nintendo DS. My keys and phone, and my mom's mp3 player, credit cards, social security card, and birth certificate. The contents of a electronics junk drawer. And all the meat for our Fourth of July BBQ. In fact, they cleaned out most of the food from all three floors.

All the doors in the place were left open, as were many drawers and closets. Luckily, they didn't grab anything big - our tv's, stereos, and computers are still here - and they missed the backpack with my laptop inside. No jewelry seems to be missing. But as they have our keys, the odds are good they plan on coming back.

So we waited for the police to show, spending the hours canceling credit cards and phone accounts with the aid of the laptop. I had my wallet on me while I slept, so they didn't get my cards and can't have gotten my address from my ID. But I'm worried that they can get it using my cell phone number. The last we heard, they used Mike's card three times and it looks like they are heading west. I live in the west 'burbs. I notified my local police and they said they would keep an eye out, but I'm still nervous as hell.

The cops came and took our statements. He said a team would be round to dust for prints, but they still haven't shown yet. I spent most of the day outside, keeping an eye on the cars until Mikey gets back with the spare keys. I'm going to have to get the locks on the car changed; we've already had the locks on the house and garage changed, and my landlord is sending someone round to my apartment tomorrow.

My mom has already decided to keep the dog out of the cage from now on, no matter how much he destroys things. He was in the cage while I slept because he gets very hyper when I'm around and won't let me alone. He nips and pounces and barks at me if he's out of the cage, and cries and whines if he's in it. Between that and all the fans going, it's not surprising we slept through any noise.

I'm pending the night here, for whatever good it does anyone. Hopefully, the thieves didn't see enough of value here to try and break-in when they find out the keys don't work. But I'm worried about the nights when I won't be around. Living here on their own is going to be real rough on my mom and Mike's sister. She's been trying to sell the house for a while now. We have to get out of here.