Landscaper or Thief?

Many years ago I was added to a neighborhood email list run by a woman who lives on my street.  The list was created so we could swap ideas about school and learn teacher assignments before open house.  Over the years, the list became a means to communicate garage sale or availability of Twins tickets, etc.  But this week it was used as a warning.  Apparently there have been a rash of thefts in our area.  According to the police officers, a group of "good kids" from good families have ganged up and are executing a series of small thefts (70 so far) on cars left overnight on the street.  I read about this latest development on Thursday.

Friday morning was the time Jacob had picked to make and fly his FPG-9 plane (aviation merit badge).  He'd invited 6 families to join us (scout and siblings) at a local park.  We were planning on 30 people for a massive model airplane creation and flight test, followed by treats for all.  And the week had produced beautiful weather so we were pumped.  But, being Minnesota, of course it rained on Friday.  Not just a sprinkle or anything, but a torrential downpour.  It was a mad scramble of phone calls and texts to let those wonderful friends know that the massive event would now be reduced to scouts only and moved to our home.  Those faithful scouts showed up and made the planes in our kitchen.  They bravely agreed to fly their planes into the storm.  We prepared to descend to the patio below our screened porch (so at least we were out of the rain) and launch them into the deluge.

Jacob ran down first while I encouraged the rest of the boys to put their names on their planes and follow.  He came back up immediately and said, "There's a man on the patio."  "What!?"  "There's a man on the patio."  Laurel was on the phone arranging a play date - I snatched the phone from her, told her friend we'd call her back, and ended the call.  Taking the phone as my only weapon, I marched down the stairs to discover there was indeed a man on our patio.  A young, clean-cut man, but a stranger never-the-less.  Before I could say anything, he said, "Do you mind if I stand under here?  I'm a landscaper for your neighbors and their deck leaks so I want to stand here until it stops raining."  "Which neighbor?"  He gestures.  The neighbors he indicted often have random people stay at their home or do work for them, but because they are from China, every single person to come out of their home or do work for them has been Asian.  So I didn't quite believe this guy because he was Caucasian.  "Do you have a business card?"  "Ah no - my brother just left and he has them."  "Then you can't stand under my deck - I'm sorry.  There have been a rash of robberies in the area."  The poor guy went and stood under my neighbors leaky deck.  I then rushed upstairs and called her at work.  Sure enough, THIS ONE TIME, she hired some Russian friends to do some work for her.  He was legitimate (although she was alarmed he was on my property as well).  I rushed over to invite him to stand back under our deck but he refused.

Looking back on it, a few things seem obvious.  If he were a thief, he'd have run the second Jacob came down.  If he were a dangerous person, he'd probably have grabbed Jacob so he couldn't come back up and tell me there was someone under the deck.   Did I really think I could dial 911 fast enough if he had meant us harm (yes I did - how ridiculous)?  All I could think was there's some "good kid" below scoping out our home because we weren't supposed to be here, but the rain changed our plans.  After all was said and done, my friend laughingly suggested Jacob and I should get some sort of CSI badge for solving the mystery or a self-defense badge since I was prepared to use my phone as a deadly weapon in defense of my children and friend's children :).

And in the end, the boys flew their planes into the rain and they all worked pretty well.  Christopher's flew the farthest on the first run, but Caleb beat all the distances in the many "flights" that followed.  The scouts had fun and we will all most certainly remember this event.  With the rain and the excitement, I forgot to take any pictures.  But here is one of Jacob's mighty plane along with my favorite scout who is "friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, BRAVE, clean, reverent."