All the sudden there came this angry pounding on the door. Not a knocking sound, but pounding, like with a fist. The cats scattered after the second repetition of this. I saw the Rowdy Boys flee into the kitchen, but I didn't see where Apricot went.
I was frightened. The guy just kept pounding on my door, over and over again. I looked out the peep hole in the door to see it was just one man, white, dark haired, and not a teenager or 20s, but with my prosopagnosia, that's all I could remember, if I called the cops and he left before they came.
Even with that handicap, I was about to call 911 because he just wouldn't leave. I even had the phone out. I was terrified of what he would do if I didn't open the door, but I was more scared of what he would do if I did. He finally left right as I got the phone app open. (Yes, I know I can dial it from the password screen. I forgot.)
But I was still afraid. He sounded so angry and demanding, that pounding over and over again. I fully expected a rock to come through the window, a petty retaliation for my not answering the door when he knew quite well I was at home. I'd already turned off all the lights, and I huddled in the middle of the living room, away from all the windows, waiting with my heart in my throat.
Since the noises had stopped, the kittens came out of the living room to see what was up. They both checked in with me, coming up to me and getting petted, and then, to my shock, Apricot came out of the kitchen and came over to me as well. I would have expected him to go hide in one of his normal hiding spots, not in the kitchen with the other two!
As I was still scared they picked up on it, and although no one left the living room, even Apricot, they dispersed away from me. Except for Thimble. Poor 3 month old Thimble came back to me and was reassuring me that it would be okay. I haven't had a cat do that for a very long time; Pippin was like Apricot, and I had to reassure him, not the other way around.
I greatly appreciated Thimble's efforts, which did help make me feel better. But I felt sorry for him, having to be the grownup when he's still such a baby.
Nothing happened, but when I cautiously went into the kitchen, I saw my neighbor's motion sensor light go on. I waited until it went off and then called them, to see if perhaps they had opened the door and found out what the guy wanted (or if I needed to call 911 because they'd opened the door and he'd wanted something bad and they weren't able to answer my call).
Turns out they'd just gotten home from grocery shopping, and the man accosted them in their driveway as they got out of their car! And he wanted them to sign a petition about voting. Like changing what kind of majority is needed to pass a certain kind of vote ... he wasn't clear to my neighbor and of course I got this second hand so I'm really not clear on it.
My neighbor said he told the guy straight-up that going door to door after dark in a street of mostly elderly people was a really stupid idea and he was going to get the cops called on him if he kept it up. Did I mention it was also 39 degrees (F)? What idiot goes door to door after dark when it's that close to freezing?
When I called my dad, he said that someone with a similar sounding petition had come by their place shortly before Christmas, so it sounded legitimate. My neighbor said he thought the guy was legitimate too, just deeply stupid.
I didn't call the police then, because a description from me is worse than useless, but it did occur to me that my phone may be capable of taking a photo through the peep hole, and so next time something like this happens, I can take the person's picture and give that to the cops.
It was a very scary experience for me. I suppose it wouldn't really be that scary for most people, but I'm not most people, and with three anxiety disorders to my name and counting, I get scared easily. (An anxiety disorder should really be called a fear disorder but then people would get it mixed up with phobias.)
But there's two good things that came out of the whole incident. First, Apricot is starting to trust the Rowdy Boys enough to hide with them, instead of by himself. And second, I have a kitten who wants to take care of me, too. I've really missed that. Now I have a cat I have to "be strong" for, and a cat who can "be strong" for me. Kind of completes the circuit, so to speak!
Here is Thimble, from a different day, when I discovered that if you have a sleepy kitten on a heated throw blanket on your lap, and you've turned the blanket on high because you're feeling ill, said kitten may just toast himself into an absolutely blissful state instead of leaving because it's too hot.
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| A Toasted Thimble |
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