Wherein Jane Becomes Brave

This Sunday afternoon, I received a call while I was napping. I like Sunday Naps. When other things are going on around me in the world, and when I am quite busy, I still take Sunday Naps; they're somewhat of an institution. (An exception is last week, when I worked through the afternoon and into the night creating these.) I awoke from sleep, briefly, to ask Little Brother to silence my phone, and then I went back to work, and was startled awake at 6:45 pm--later than I ever nap--to a sort of disoriented haze. My first thought was: I have slept through the night, and I need to leave for work in seventeen minutes! But I hadn't. I checked my phone, as a matter of course, and saw the Google Transcription:

 

This is ABC security services with a message for Jane. We have received a burglar alarm at the residence of John Doe, 18000 Main Street, Small Town, Big State. If you have any questions, please call back at this number. Authorities will be notified. Thank you.

 

I panicked. I have been watching my bestie’s house while she’s on deployment and everything has been so benign there. When the burglar alarm went off on this particular day, I slept through it. I was still sleepy and disoriented, so I called back the security company and they confirmed that since I didn't take the call, the police were dispatched to the house. "We didn't hear back from them," the bored-sounding alarm lady told me, "Which is customary in cases where no threat is found."

I called Bestie’s Google Voice number, which she can access occasionally, and left a voice-mail keeping her apprised. I felt that I had failed her in some way, although I had not, and I woke up my Big Brother (who has no policies against sleeping after 6:45 pm) and dragged him over to the house with me. We both forgot our phones, which is odd because we are never anywhere without our phones. I told him that we would just cruise through the house and make sure nothing was missing. Anyway, when we were laughing and talking on the way up to the door, I paused, heart suddenly thudding: behind the security screen, the front door was open.

THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN!

I am not the type of person to display any degree of courage. I shrink from adventure, and I pretend that conflict does not exist. Big Brother said, breezily, "Let's clear the house." I followed, because I have been becoming a follower; sometimes I don't recognize myself anymore. I have been more trusting, more vulnerable, more willing. WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING TO ME? It is a good thing in my pursuit as a lady, but a poor thing for safety & security in the face of potential home invaders. The alarm went off when we pushed the door open, so I typed in my code, and then Big Brother grabbed a pool stick, broken down, with the screw-end out and the girthy end in his hand, while I walked behind him, silently, as he went to each room and each closet.

 

I’m adventured out.