Anthony and I got to sleep sometime after midnight only to be wakened by a horrific scream in the alley out back. The screaming kept on going followed by a man yelling and the woman still screaming bloody murder. (Well no those weren’t her exact words, but it really sounded bad.) There was also a dog (obviously big) barking loudly. The. Whole. Time.

Anthony decided to grab some pyjama pants and run outside to see what was happening. He didn’t take a phone, nor shoes, nor shirt, but went outside and yelled at the couple to see if everything was alright. Mom was up on the balcony and asking if she should call the police, and a bunch of people from the front of our complex came out back to see what was going on. I grabbed some clothes and went upstairs to get the phone that was working so I could call 911 if needed.

The view from the balcony was kind of strange. A number of people were outside in various states of dress, what turned out to be a police officer with a police dog, a couple of plain clothes police officers and unmarked cars, and a woman who was tracked to a garage alcove in the complex behind us after allegedly stealing something. The police officer with the dog was yelling at the bystanders to calm down “She did a thief,” or something to that ungrammatically correct effect. So we had in our alley a “police incident.” It was very loud and frightening (the woman sounded like she was being assaulted,) and a big burst of adrenalin for the second time that night.

I tell you waking up to a woman screaming like that is very very disturbing. I can only thank god that Aidan slept through the whole thing.

Getting back to sleep was difficult. Not only did we have the after effects of the adrenalin push, but it stayed noisy and confusing in the alley for quite a while. About ten minutes after Anthony got back inside (fully admitting that he really should have put on some shoes and brought a phone) it got quite loud outside again. The woman yelling “You have already told me my fucking rights. I don’t want to hear them again.” The police officer(s) obviously telling her again. The paramedics doing something or other but not using the siren. Again I say thank god Aidan didn’t wake up.

I suppose there are several pieces of good news in this scenario.

  1. Anthony wasn’t hurt and now realizes that if you go out to help a screaming woman (he did stay far away and ask if she needed help) you first put on shoes and bring a phone.
  2. Aidan didn’t wake up.
  3. Anthony finished listening to his audiobook since he didn’t get back to sleep till after 3 am.
  4. I realized once and for all that I do not want to be a police officer. (Not that I was actually thinking of changing careers.)
  5. It gives my mom a good story to tell when she gets back home.
  6. I got to use the word “allegedly” in a grammatically correct manner, I think. and
  7. It makes one hell of a blog post.

(Cross posted at Left Coast Mama.)