Sunday, August 10, 2008

old man anger

My neighbor called me about an hour ago and asked if I'd seen some kids running through my fenced back yard. I told her I hadn't, but I'd keep an eye out.

Drew came home from a movie about 20 minutes ago, and as I was relaying the phone call, I saw two boys running through my back yard. I said "There go those kids again," and Drew rushed toward the back door, filled with righteous old man anger.

Unfortunately, the child safety latch on our back door knob foiled my poor husband. He spent a good 3 seconds (it doesn't take long to run through our back yard) fumbling with the door knob, and once he finally managed to open the door, he barked a very terse "Stay out of our yard!" If he'd had a cane, he'd have shaken it at them.

This may have been the funniest display of foiled anger I've seen in a long time. Right after he started fumbling with the knob, I started giggling and haven't stopped since. He threatened me with mild physical violence, and I said "That's okay, I'll just hide in the back yard. You'll never get me."

(My immediate reaction is to not care that these kids are running through my back yard. I wouldn't care if they ran through my front yard. However, my back yard is fenced in and these kids or some like them have already broken two of my neighbors' fences. Also, many years ago, some parents - unsuccessfully, thank goodness - sued my father-in-law because their kid died while trespassing on his land. All it takes is one of these kids making a bad jump and breaking their legs on my fence and I'll have a lawsuit on my hands, and I really don't have time for a lawsuit right now. I would love to catch these kids and have a few words with their parents.)

6 comments:

watercolordaisy said...

heh. "you darn kids!!"

HEATHER said...

But you know what, if you found their parents they would probably bitch you out, and claim that you improperly held their kid hostage while you were walking them home.
The sad thing is their parents probably don't care.

Webmaster said...

"When I was your age, I played in my own damn yard!!"

From the Doghouse said...

"And I was thankful! And it only cost a nickel!"

Unknown said...

You know what else is funny? When you impaled your foot on one of Ace's toys in your attempt to heap further mockery on my righteous anger.

Supermom said...

agree the parents likely don't care what their delinquents are doing...

I'd so have to booby-trap the back yard.