Last night someone moved my garbage can to the end of the block. Odd to think someone was right outside and I didn’t know it. It’s deja vu all over again! I always set the bins out on the street the night before. My odd hours have me often working overnights and my office overlooks the street. When it’s cool outside I have the window open. I had it closed last night as I worked in the office from midnight til 6:00am, so I didn’t hear anyone rolling my bin to the end of the block. That would have made a lot of noise. It’s odder to think someone would put it in their vehicle and drive it to the end of the block and toss it on the ground. People do crazy things!
My mate was on his morning walk and when he saw the tipped over can at the side of the road, his spidey sense told him it was mine. Sure enough, when he got here mine was missing. We went down and drove it back up, the one bag was still in it. He remarked perhaps it was Charlie, my west neighbor, whose dog bit me in 2007 and who ripped off my mailbox a few years later, not knowing I was in the yard facing the street when he did it. He was showing off for a passenger. Now every time Charlie passes the house in his truck, every day, he waves at the security camera. Just because he’s a smart ass doesn’t mean he moved my garbage bin. But who else?
About 3:00am I went outside looking for Benny the Cat and calling for him down the street. I walk around a lot during the nighttime hours, up and down my street and in my yard. As I looked for him, I thought to stand outside my office window and see the view in from outside. Between the burglar bars, the bushes outside and the navy drape inside the window, you couldn’t see much. I seldom use the outside light into that area but when I use it, it gives me a wide view of the west woods. I’ll use it now when I go into the office after dark.
Years ago I had a friend who would walk or bike by the house in the midnight hours and hang out on the street watching the windows. He left cigarette butts. Once I was walking in the street in front of my house late night and in the darkness he biked by so close I could have reached out and touched him. I think it startled him, too. He stopped coming around after that. A quiet and shy man, I felt kind of honored that he thought my humble abode worthy of attention.
I’ve never felt in danger here. Even when the Arsonist walked thru my yard while fleeing from police. But as for my garbage being taken down the street? As with everything, there’s a lesson and metaphor in it for me. Take my garbage all the way down the street? No biggie, I claim my garbage. And I take the snitching of it as by someone who knows what a loving heart I have and wants to connect with me on some level, even if just to get a chuckle out of watching me retrieve it. I aim to please.