theories
We live in a strange neighbourhood in East Vancouver. It is eerily quiet around the bubble of the ‘hood, but if you are standing at the top of the hill and listen, you can hear a plethora of noises coming from the outside perimeter. Sandra and I realized this once and it totally freaked me out. Rob and I also speculate that there is a lot of strange going-ons in this neighbourhood. I’m certain there are at least three drug houses, and a lot of strange activity in a few others.
Which brings me to yesterday…
So it was a little bit before noon and we were getting ready to leave for the day (I for school and Rob for work) when I heard a slight knock on the door. Nobody knocks on our door. For one, we live in the middle of nowhere, and friends do not just “drop by” because they’re in our neighbourhood. Secondly, if it was a solicitor or anything, why would he or she come around to the back? The house is fenced off and you can’t really see that there is a separate entrance to the basement from the front of the house. Obviously I was not going to answer the door because I was scared of the various possibilities that could happen to a small Asian girl (thanks a lot, media!) and Rob was in the bathroom at the time. The mystery person knocked once more and then I heard a noise – as if he or she was pushing on the slightly ajar kitchen window. I was silently freaking out and signaling Rob to hurry up and check out the situation; the cats were frozen stiff (guard cats they are not!), shooting worried looks at one another (who will feed us if you two are dead?).
Rob and I finally regained composure and he set outside to see what was going on. I had the cellphone in hand, ready to call someone (at this time I wasn’t sure who I would be calling – the police? Kristina? Mom?). The back gate was open but Rob was sure this person hadn’t left.
Sure enough, this mysterious man appeared in our back yard (again), definitely caught off-guard by Rob, and was sketchy beyond belief (lets call him SAM – or Sketchy Asian Man). He was about 5′7″ Asian (Vietnamese? Cambodian?) with darker skin, wearing a black tank top and black jeans (fake Gucci, of all things) and black dress shoes. He had these strange scars on his face that did not look as if he was born with them. His face kind of reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Bug-eyed with a similar haircut.
Rob: What are you doing here?
SAM: Oh. Uh…nothing. I’m just…
[SAM turns and walks around the perimeter of the house]
[Rob proceeds to follow him]
Rob: Can I help you?
SAM: Is…uh…anyone home?
Rob: Yes. There is.
SAM: Oh…uh..nevermind. I’m going to go now.
[SAM books it, leaving from the back gate, going up and across the field]
Now, I’m generally a fair person, and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt; however, I don’t think this individual acted favourably to deserve anything of the like. We’re pretty sure he was scoping out the house for a possible break-in, or was going to break-in, had Rob not intercepted.
Who enters a home from the back gate? What would have happened if I did open the door – would it have been a home invasion?
I’m pretty sure another reason SAM was caught off-guard was the fact that Rob is tall and white. Face it, we live in a predominately Asian neighbourhood (who doesn’t?), and if SAM and co. (this definitely wasn’t a one man job) had been scoping out the house, they probably didn’t expect a white guy to live here, too.
So what now? I’ve notified everyone about SAM, and windows remain closed and locked when no one is home, no matter how stuffy it gets. I was pretty freaked out by SAM and everyone made sure that I called them when I got home yesterday. Thanks, friends!
Just so you know – if you have home insurance and there is a break in – chances are your policy will not cover you for entire contents (or anything) if
a) a window or door is ajar at time of incident
b) if the alarm was not set
It’s usually an afterthought (oh, I’ll only be gone for a few hours so I can leave this window open!), but the repercussions can be devastating!
I forgot to mention that I received my midterm back a week and a half ago – 19/20! On top of that, the prof decided to give everyone an additional mark (I’m guessing some people did poorly on it); thus, granting me 100% on my midterm. I am really pleased with this, mostly because this one text was worth 30%. Now I just need to do well on the term paper (25%) and my final (30%). I am really nervous about this paper, though. We have been given strict instructions on what to do and what not to do. Then there is also this expectation that I have to do well by my prof (it’s college, remember. Not as many people in the classes!) since we already spoke about my paper and he expressed great interest in reading it. Fuck.
