Let's Not Meet Again

The Stranger At The Door

About ten years ago, when I was 15, I house-sat for the family a block over when they went on long vacations. Since I didn't have a car back then I just slept at her place to take care of the dog and ducks/rabbits (she had some small livestock) without too much back and forth overnight. She let me sleep in the master bedroom and the dog slept in there with me.

I'm dead asleep and wake up to howling - the dog is barking and howling at the window at 1am. He barks a lot, but not like this - this is a stranger alert type bark that anyone who owns dogs should recognize.

Jump out of bed and look at the window - the porch light is on but that's it, but I can barely see the front end of a white car parked just out of view of the house. It's just parallel parked there, no lights, and I didn't see anybody so I was about to tell the dog to shut up and go back to sleep when I see the unmistakable shadow of a man approaching the house - and a few seconds later, pounding on the door.

For reference, I'm a woman, and as a 15 year old teenage girl I was not about to answer the door to some unknown stranger at 1 in the morning...especially a house that wasn't mine!

He's knocking over and over. The dog is barking louder and I'm freaking out so I grab my cellphone and call 911. First mistake, using my cell and not a landline, because the operator says "what's your location?" and I realize I don't know this woman's address. I'm fumbling around like an idiot, terrified, with things like "It's on Main Street, I don't know the number, I live at 123 Other Street and it's a block away," etc - because I've only ever known this house as "that place a block away," never needed to know an address!

All the while the pounding is getting worse and worse, like the door is about to get kicked in. He isn't yelling or talking, just knocking. I'm huddled against a wall while the 911 operator tries to calm me down and says someone will be there soon. The knocking stops. And then there's a flashlight shining into the bedroom window! But I'm hidden on the floor and the light doesn't hit me. He resumes banging on the door instead, all the while the dog is losing his mind. I would have set him out toward the front door but he was just a little cocker spaniel, not like he could do much other than yap.

The knocking stops again. Silence. I tell the operator he's stopped but I don't know where he is - was he trying to break in a window now? Or sneaking around the back? Did he leave?

The operator says "I'm transferring you to an officer in your area now, okay?" and clicks over.

A man who sounds pissed as all hell is on the line. Without saying a name or badge number he goes "Hey, that was me at your door, why didn't you answer?"

I don't remember the conversation verbatim, it's been too long. But essentially he was coming to this woman's house in the middle of the night to arrest her adult son, whose last known location was at this place. He was angry at ME for not answering the door. The flashlight into the bedroom was, according to him, a signal to answer. The white car parked just off the side of the house was his patrol car.

A cop. The whole time it was a cop. He didn't once announce himself as police or say ANYTHING, just banged on the door expecting a response. I kept explaining I was just housesitting, that I don't know her son or where he is - I offered to give him the owner's phone number but he just said no, huffy, and hung up.

No name, no badge number, nothing. I never even saw his face, because he drove away. He'd come alone as well.

The official story is he was knocking with a warrant. But even 15 year old me knew that was bullshit. My only guess is that he was hoping to surprise this guy unawares and that they had some personal grudge/history. The homeowner admitted to me that he had financial problems and owed money to people, and had been bouncing checks. So my guess? That cop was doing an unofficial visit, but when I called 911 heard what was going on on his radio and backed off with some excuse.

So yeah. Fucked me up pretty good, and I didn't sleep in that house ever again. At the time I was annoyed no police ever came to check up on me, but looking back I realize how sketchy the whole situation was and it's probably better I never saw this guy's face. So unknown police man trying to break down my door, let's not meet.