bear in mind, i live in a neighborhood with a police station very close by...

my heart practically stopped when i groggily opened my door to three intimidating police officers with flashlights at 12:15am.

my half asleep brain had awakened itself quickly, and was scanning frantically through all the possible reasons why uniformed men would show up on my doorstep. brain was still working on it, when the foremost uniformed gentleman queried, "does the ________ parked outside belong to you?" -

heart sank even further. i absolutely love my car. junky and old it is, but it has served me well, and carries with it many memories. i would lose a piece of myself if anything should happen to it; because i intend to keep it forever, even if i purchase a brand new one.

-he continued, "your car has been broken into.... but you're lucky, because we think that we have all of your stuff...."

brain was blurring everything together in panic; i simply heard the plea to change into some clothes and to go outside where they will be waiting.

one of the nice policemen drove me in his "undercover" vehicle, to another location within the neighborhood, where they had apprehended the suspect. the doors to a white vehicle pulled over on the street, were all propped open, inviting to be searched.

the officer then asked me to identify all of the objects that were mine. scattered throughout the interior, were my possessions, tossed around as though they had been inspected for quality and were then rejected.

i reclaimed everything, and sat down with one officer (while another continued to search the vehicle), and declared the value of each trivial item.

"i should have cleaned my car" was all that was running through my head, as the officer declared the value of two umbrellas found in my trunk, as well as three different receptacles of the same brand japanese window washing fluid. he inspected each one and joked about how i was greatly supporting this product and it's maker. greeeeeat.

upon verifying the items and its costs, the officer then prepped me for the fingerprinting of my car window.

woooooow. was my reaction.

after just watching an episode of csi, i was curious on how the local law enforcement collected fingerprints. so... i begged to watch.

familiar equipment appeared on the hood of my car, as another officer "dusted for prints". he then applied what appeared to be normal heavy duty tape, and stuck it onto a white card equivalent to a 3x5 index card. he was also kind enough to point out the ridges of the fingerprints. these criminals won't be bothering this neighborhood for a while.

like a bad lifetime movie, i found myself offering the officers a cup of coffee, or a coke. neither of which seemed to appeal to them, as they politely declined both.

...the reason why these officers had showed up on my doorstep, is because they had been tailing the suspicious white car for half an hour. thank goodness for cops who can outsmart the robbers who thought they could outsmart our local police.

anyway, i need some sleep...