A Proper Entry at Last!

Well at least that is my intention. We will see just how far my workload today lets me get with it.
I hate to burst the stalker story bubble, but it's not all *that* exciting of a story. It's probably more funny than anything, that is of course if you're not me. I know that Phillip broke into peals of laughter when I told him.

Long intro short, I've been spending a little bit of time with a man who I know from my parents' store. That should tell you something right there. Daily customer. Usually several times a day. Nice enough guy when he's sober or not too drunk, but which conditions are rare for him. Completely obnoxious after he drinks over the line. At any rate, I've known him for many years through the store, and suddenly he got this bug or something and decided we needed to go out. I'd let it be known that I did not want to see him or talk to him when he'd been drinking too much. That was no matter to him, though.

And so on July 4, he wanted to spend the day together, but began drinking quite early. I had other plans anyway, involving spending the day with the kid and also getting certain things done. He wasn't happy about that, and the more he drank that day, the more he called to tell me so.

Finally I just stopped answering his calls. Which led to him calling my folks' store to ask my mom to have me call him. And then led to him going up there and hanging out half the day waiting to see if I was going to stop by. I don't think I talked to him after mid-afternoon that day, though he called many more times after that.

The day ended with us watching the fireworks display after the baseball game ended, and going home and going to bed. I saw later that he had called my phone rang a couple of times in the wee hours, but I slept through them.

To give you an idea of how many times he called though, my cell phone stores the last 60 calls. At that point, the oldest call was less than 24 hours old, and the majority of those 60 calls were from him.

About 5:30 a.m. I was sort of half-awake for whatever reason. Suddenly I thought I heard a doorbell, and the dogs took off out of the bedroom, barking their fool heads off. Sleepily, I called out to them, "it was on the tv, you guys!" (I sleep with my tv on) But suddenly I realized it hadn't come from the tv, because the news was on. Not too many doorbells ringing on the news.

So I waited, dogs barking, and sure enough not long after came KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. At first I thought WHO in the WORLD would be at my door at 5:30 a.m.? But it didn't take me long to put 2 and 2 together. I wasn't about to open the door.

The knocking continued intermittently. I think the dogs finally got accustomed to the knocking and quit barking.

The knocking stopped for awhile and I thought Mr. Stalker had given up and gone home. But much later, the dogs went to barking again, and I woke up to hear BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM on my door again.

By then it was light outside. I rolled over and put my pillow over my head.

Moments later, there was a loud knocking on my bedroom window, followed by: "This is the Arlington Police Department. Come to the front door, NOW!".

Needless to say, I about jumped out of my skin.

I assumed at that moment that one of my neighbors had called the police on Mr. Stalker. I jumped up, threw on a robe, and went to the door. I carefully opened it and stepped outside so as to avoid a boxer break-out. The officer even said, "Don't let the dogs out!"

The officer asked me, "Do you know a Mr. Lastname?" Yes, I told him. He asked if we were having issues. I said none, other than I hadn't been answering his calls the day before. He asked me if I was all right, and I told him I was fine. Apparently Mr. Lastname called them saying he was worried about me because I wasn't answering the phone or the door. I told him that I was just fine and he let me go back inside.

I'm a pretty law-abiding citizen these days. But I would pretty much never, EVER, intentionally make a call that would bring law enforcement to my front door. So needless to say, I was not happy with the situation for a plethora of reasons.

I was grumbling about it to my mom on the phone when my call-waiting beeped in. It was Mr. Stalker. I was surprised, but answered it. He asked if I would step outside and get his keys because he was going to the hospital.

Huh?

I went outside and there I found 2 police cars and an ambulance. (Mr. Stalker told me later that at one point there had been 5 police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck) Apparently he didn't feel well and one of the officers felt he might be having a heart attack and called an ambulance. Would I take the keys to his car and get them to his dad for him?

Ultimately he did not have a heart attack, though tests found certain minor issues for which he got prescriptions. Probably the trip to the hospital was a good thing for him, but I could have done without the stalking drama in the process.

I guess the best outcome is that he hasn't had a drink all week. How do I know this, you ask?

Because here it is Friday already and the oldest call logged on my phone is from Sunday.

Happy Weekend!