How's that for a dramatic blog post title? I should preface this post by saying that everyone is perfectly safe and fine, despite the fact that a knife-wielding intruder did try to enter our home Friday afternoon.
This isn't my story, though it is mine to tell. The fact is, the children were home alone.
Three of the children were upstairs. Twelve year old Sawyer was lying on his bed reading a Percy Jackson book. Ten year old Teddy was playing a video game in the loft. Two year old Echo was napping in her crib in her room.
The other two children had been playing chase downstairs but had stopped for a snack break in the living room. Eight year old Everett was standing in the foyer and six year old Jack was sitting on a recliner behind him when they suddenly heard "lockpicking sounds" coming from the front door. As they watched, the lock lever began to turn. Everett sprinted forward and got there just as the lever was 2/3 to the unlocked position. He forced it quickly to the locked position and looked through the lower peephole that I had had installed at small kid height. He saw that a man was standing there and ran to the dining room window a few feet from the front door to get a better look.
The wooden window blinds were drawn so he lifted a slat and peeked through. He saw a tall black man holding a fine edge steak knife, standing still, looking at the door.
Everett and Jack ran to the top of the stairs and Everett quickly told Teddy what had happened. Teddy ran downstairs and into the kitchen to get two fine edge steak knives of his own, positioned himself in front of the door, and told Everett to check through the dining room window to see if the man was still there. The man was gone.
Teddy put the knives away and called my cell. I told him to round everyone up into Everett and Jack's bedroom (it's the largest and faces the street) and lock themselves in while I called 911.
Now upstairs, Teddy looked out the back loft window to make sure the intruder wasn't in the back yard and then grabbed an L shaped towel holder that had fallen off of the bathroom wall at some point. Meanwhile, Everett ran to look out of his bedroom window to make sure the intruder wasn't in the front yard. They filled Sawyer in and they all decided to lock themselves in Echo's room so she could stay in her crib. When they went in she was standing in her crib, holding onto the side, having just woken up. "Hey guys," she said. Teddy positioned himself in front of Echo's door with the L shaped piece of metal and the boys discussed their plan of action should the intruder break through the door (Teddy would slam the metal into the side of his head, Sawyer would hit him with some other object), and waited.
When Teddy had called me I was on Lakeline Boulevard, headed to Target to buy Everett a last minute birthday present. I had overheard him telling Teddy all excitedly that he couldn't wait to get a snorkel for his birthday, a few days away. He had asked for one a few months ago and I vaguely remembered responding with a trite, "Hmm, why don't we wait until your birthday".
That was my vaguely noble sounding errand. Thirty minutes later I had an appointment to get new shellac. Between helping friends move and volleyball over the weekend, I knew they would be breaking left and right if I didn't get them armored up during this afternoon window of opportunity.
I called 911 while U turning, and immediately hit my first red light. Bell Boulevard.
"This is 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance?"
"Police"
"What is your address? ... Transferring you to Williamson County"
"This is 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance?"
"Police"
"What is your address? ... What is your emergency?"
"A man with a knife tried to break into our house. He did not get in. My children are home alone and locked in a room upstairs"
"Where are you? ... How long will it take you to get back? ... What are the ages of the children ... What is your phone number?"
"Cell or home?"
"Cell ... Now what is your home number? ... "
"Please don't call them. I didn't think to tell them to bring the phone with them and I don't know if they have it. I don't want them to go downstairs to get it if they didn't."
"The mom doesn't want us to call them. No. NO! The phone might be downstairs. We don't want the children to leave the room they're in. Yes the mom says they're locked in a room upstairs. ... (type type) Don't worry mom, police officers were dispatched right away, they are on their way. They want you to stay on the line. Are you close?"
"Oh I figured, don't worry. I'm entering my neighborhood now. ... Are parents allowed to speed in emergency situations? ... (silence, then a nervous titter from the 911 operator) ... Trying not to. I'm going 5 over the speed limit. Ok, I see an SUV that says Constable. We're arriving at the same time."
I parked in the driveway out of habit, jumped out and headed to the street. The officer told me to stand back and wait by his car. I knew the drill. This was after all the second time Everett had encountered an intruder. Another story, another state.
The officer began loping in a police officer type way towards the front door with his gun pointing skywards as I yelled out, "Don't you want the key?". He jiggled the doorknob and then came back for the key. As he entered the house the alarm began wailing and the second police officer pulled up. He came running up the property line between my house and the next and asked which house it was. I pointed at the open doorway and told him that the first officer had just gone inside. I knew the moment he spotted the weak point in the hedge that encloses all of the front patio area except for a gap at the walkway on the opposite side. Despite all of my admonishments, the children repeatedly crawl through this spot in the hedge so that there is now a large empty space at the bottom. Officer #2 decided to abide by the philosophy of parkour - get from point A to point B in the most efficient and fastest way possible. He crashed his 6' 3"ish body through my hedge and ran into the house beyond.
I texted two of my neighbor friends so they wouldn't worry about the police cars. A third officer arrived and ran through the side gate to check the back yard. As a fourth officer pulled up, the first two appeared at the front door and motioned for us to come inside. The children were already downstairs and Everett had given his account (minus the bit about Teddy and the knives, I heard that later). The third officer appeared at the back patio sliding glass door, trying the lock. The fourth officer let him in.
They called Everett over and asked him if he remembered what the man was wearing. Everett said no. I asked what he did remember about the man. Everett said the man had brown skin. I explained that brown skin meant really really dark skin. That the boys called my skin tan. I asked Everett more questions. Tall or short? Tall. "As tall as me?" asked Officer #2, the hedge crasher. "Almost as tall as you, but a little shorter". Fat or thin? "Normal, not fat or thin." Was he wearing a hat? No. Did he have hair? Yes, dark brown hair.
The first police officer said he had seen a man matching that description crossing through a muddy area nearby on his way to our house. They didn't seem hopeful that they would find him, or whoever the intruder had been. Officer #2 said there were three options. The first option was that they would all patrol the area for the next 20 minutes. I missed the second and third options because they sounded very unexciting and so my AD/HD kicked in and shouted "LALALALALALA" into my brain as I backtracked on all that had happened. I was brought back to reality by the officer asking me which option I wanted them to take.
I said, "Oh when you said there were three options I didn't realize that I would get to choose." The second and third options had been something about waiting and paperwork, so I said, "I'd like option #1. Please patrol the area for a while".
We were chatting about fake solicitors who jiggle doorknobs when the phone rang. I told the officers that it was my hubby. They immediately stepped outside to give me privacy.
"Hey husband, I
can't talk right now because there are police officers here but everyone is fine.
"What?!"
"I'll call you back to explain." (I really do call him husband, not the most original pet name)
"Ok."
Officer #2 asked how old my children were. Oh boy. Here I was in the exact hypothetical situation I had discussed over and over with friends in the past - would a police officer be ok with our decision that Sawyer was mature enough to start babysitting?
"They are 12, 10, 8, 6, and 2. The two older boys are American Red Cross certified babysitters. The eldest is additionally First Aid certified. There is no minimum legal age for babysitting in Texas, correct?"
"Yes you're right. There is no minimum age. We ask that a babysitter be gauged on whether they are mature enough. Do they know what to do in an emergency. Do they know to call 911."
"Well technically they called me and I called 911".
"They did what they were supposed to do. They called for help. They locked themselves in a room. You did a good job".
I have a special place in my heart for Officer #2, even if he did crash through the weak point in my hedge.
The police officers left.
I told the kids, "Boys, remember today as the day that Everett saved all of your lives". The other boys turned to look at him seriously. He smiled faintly with pride. I asked Everett if he'd been scared at any point. "A little, when the door lock started turning". I told the boys how proud I was of all of them.
I began texting details to the hubby. There was the iffy action Teddy took in holding two steak knives in front of the door while Everett checked the window again. We often discussed different emergency situations that could arise while they were home alone. Anytime we talked about what to do if there was an intruder, Teddy would say that he would run to get a kitchen knife and do what he needed to do to protect everyone. I always told him that he should stay away from the knives, that an intruder could take a knife and use it on him. But this intruder already had a knife.
The hubby texted me, "What do you think about the kids' reactions?"
I took a few seconds to think.
"Totally fine - I'm proud of them"
"Ok, just wanted to be sure you felt that before I tell them also"
I recapped. "Everett locked the door when it was about to open, he looked out the window, he called Teddy. Teddy made sure the house was secure in the short term while protecting them with show of force in case he came through the door while Everett checked the window again. Teddy called me and put away the knives. They looked out of the upstairs windows and then locked themselves in with Echo. What do you think about the knives?"
"I think those two are warriors and the coolest kids I've ever heard of."
When he got home, he told Teddy and Everett exactly that. And he told them that they were his heroes.
Six year old Jack turned to me and said, "Mommy, it's because we care more about Echo than we do our own lives".
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