What Happened
So, Saturday night I got home around 6. Made dinner, put the kids to bed, decided I was too exhausted to go to the work-related function I'd planned to attend (Saturday was crazy busy). John and I watched some TV and went to bed.
Sunday, we headed out the door to go to Church, which starts at one, and the car was gone. Trea noticed first - she turned around and asked John where the car was. He thought she was joking. Then we looked up and realized it was not in our parking space. We filed a police report and still made it to part of church. The detective who took the report said all we could was wait; most cars turned up in a few days, sometimes wrecked, sometimes not.
We only carry liability insurance on the car, so there wasn't any help coming from that direction (the car's old and paid for, it would be ridiculous to pay for comprehensive). We never really made an effort to lock it, because the automatic locks are broken, we are lazy, and for real, who steals a 12-year-old car with no stereo?
Sunday morning at 1:15 am, I get a call that they've found the car. Thing is, they want me to go meet the police officers right then. Um, ok, we only have one car, the busses aren't running all that frequently at that hour (if at all? I'm still not sure) and if I don't go get it, the car gets towed and impounded. Which means I'd have to pay a whole lot of money to get it back. Turns out, it's only a little over a mile away, so I walked. I was almost there when a cop pulled up and gave me a ride the rest of the way (which is how I ended up in the backseat of a police car at 1:30 am. It is really, really cramped back there. I feel sorry for tall criminals.) When we got there, there were no less than four cops just sitting around - why one of them couldn't have picked me up, I'll never know.
So, the funny thing is, the car wasn't really abandoned - at least it didn't look like they intentionally abandoned it. A security guard for the apartment complex had noticed it idling (yes, they left it running, and the cops didn't even think to turn it off). He checked with the resident who was assigned that space, who said the car wasn't his, and then he called the cops. It was a good thing too, because I think they were leaving town, and we'd never have gotten it back. There was a Gatorade bottle in the cupholder, a woman's bag in the back seat, and two suitcases in the trunk. The bag and the suitcases were stuffed - there were even prescription bottles. They dusted for prints and took the suitcases and stuff back to the crime lab hoping to get a print. The cops think the people who stole it probably just stopped to get something from an apartment and then were taking off. I haven't heard anything from them yet but I really, really hope they catch someone. I'm not normally a vindictive or revengeful person but this time I would love to see someone pay. They took the kids' carseats - which sucked because they are not cheap to replace - but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the look on Trea's face when I told her the carseat was gone (it came up and I couldn't avoid telling her); I think she just had this moment where she realized Mom and Dad didn't have control over this. Not that I think she's traumatized or anything, but she was genuinely upset and it made me really angry that at 4, she had to experience that.
So, car's back, we have new carseats, and all is well.
Sunday, we headed out the door to go to Church, which starts at one, and the car was gone. Trea noticed first - she turned around and asked John where the car was. He thought she was joking. Then we looked up and realized it was not in our parking space. We filed a police report and still made it to part of church. The detective who took the report said all we could was wait; most cars turned up in a few days, sometimes wrecked, sometimes not.
We only carry liability insurance on the car, so there wasn't any help coming from that direction (the car's old and paid for, it would be ridiculous to pay for comprehensive). We never really made an effort to lock it, because the automatic locks are broken, we are lazy, and for real, who steals a 12-year-old car with no stereo?
Sunday morning at 1:15 am, I get a call that they've found the car. Thing is, they want me to go meet the police officers right then. Um, ok, we only have one car, the busses aren't running all that frequently at that hour (if at all? I'm still not sure) and if I don't go get it, the car gets towed and impounded. Which means I'd have to pay a whole lot of money to get it back. Turns out, it's only a little over a mile away, so I walked. I was almost there when a cop pulled up and gave me a ride the rest of the way (which is how I ended up in the backseat of a police car at 1:30 am. It is really, really cramped back there. I feel sorry for tall criminals.) When we got there, there were no less than four cops just sitting around - why one of them couldn't have picked me up, I'll never know.
So, the funny thing is, the car wasn't really abandoned - at least it didn't look like they intentionally abandoned it. A security guard for the apartment complex had noticed it idling (yes, they left it running, and the cops didn't even think to turn it off). He checked with the resident who was assigned that space, who said the car wasn't his, and then he called the cops. It was a good thing too, because I think they were leaving town, and we'd never have gotten it back. There was a Gatorade bottle in the cupholder, a woman's bag in the back seat, and two suitcases in the trunk. The bag and the suitcases were stuffed - there were even prescription bottles. They dusted for prints and took the suitcases and stuff back to the crime lab hoping to get a print. The cops think the people who stole it probably just stopped to get something from an apartment and then were taking off. I haven't heard anything from them yet but I really, really hope they catch someone. I'm not normally a vindictive or revengeful person but this time I would love to see someone pay. They took the kids' carseats - which sucked because they are not cheap to replace - but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the look on Trea's face when I told her the carseat was gone (it came up and I couldn't avoid telling her); I think she just had this moment where she realized Mom and Dad didn't have control over this. Not that I think she's traumatized or anything, but she was genuinely upset and it made me really angry that at 4, she had to experience that.
So, car's back, we have new carseats, and all is well.
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Amy (Parker)