And picked the wrong doorbell to ring as a prank in the middle of the night...
About 10:30, my wife and I were going upstairs to bed (luckily, my daughter was across the street at the neighbors spending the night) when I see a pickup truck in the street stopped in front of the house. Suddenly, a teenager gets out and starts running towards my front door, so I run down the steps to 'greet' him. I was a foot from the door when he hit the doorbell and ran, with me right out the door after him. I think he was a little surprised when somebody faster than what he expected came right out the door behind him. As soon as his buddies in the truck saw what was happening, they took off down the street, with the kid following, and me about 30 feet behind on his tail.
He had shoes. I was barefoot. I ran him through the yard, and down the street. I ran him so fast he ran out of both his tennis shoes (which I now have proudly displayed hanging on my front porch). The truck made a corner and stopped; I was about 15 feet from him when he jumped in the back of the truck and they drove off. Not close enough for a tag number, but a very good description. I watch the truck - instead of going out of the neighborhood and hightailing it out of here, I see them circle thru the neighborhood.
My wife calls the police. We live in a small town with the county sherrif spread pretty thin. The tell her it may be awhile before they get here.
Here's where it gets fun. In the meantime, I catch my breath, get some shoes on, and slip back outside in the shadows. I also put my shotgun just inside the door. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, a red Ford Taurus, drives back and forth suspiciously up the street. It stops where I confiscated the shoes, and some teens get out of the car and start looking. I started to run after them again, but the car was facing my way and would have to come right by me in my hidey spot (I wanted a tag #). When the car started to come up the street, I stepped out of my hide spot and authoritatively made the stop signal. The car stopped; I walked behind the car to come around (and got the tag #) and went up to the driver, a woman who appeared to be about 30. She says "Can I have the shoes" and I told her just to "pull on into the driveway and we could have a nice chat once the police get here". She says, "I'm not going to do that, and starts to drive away; I said "fine, because now I have YOUR tag number, too".
About a half hour later the Sherriff's deputy shows up. I give him the info, he runs the tag, and sure enough, the Red Taurus is registered about 2 streets away. The Deputy is going to go over and have a talk with the parents. He asks me about the shoes; by this time I've calmed down some and I tell the Deputy that if they come over tomorrow during daylight, and we have a little talk, he can have his shoes back.
The deputy comes back about a half hour later. The MOM was the one who was driving the car to find the shoes (and, SHE was the one that also did the un-adult thing and drove off - kids raising kids). The kid was from another town who was here with some friends. The lady's daughter was the reason these boys were up here, and they immediately took off. The deputy has the young man's number and is going to call and talk to him about what could have easily happened.
I'll bet that kid shait his pants when he hit that doorbell and I was about 3 feet behind him; I doubt he suspected that the 'old man' who lived there can still run 2 miles in around 18 minutes. And then his 'buds' left him hanging...
Now, either one or two things are gonna happen. The mom is gonna 'man up' or if she has a husband, he and I can talk this out, and nobody is ever gonna do that to my house again. OR, this is going to be a challenge and they are gonna be back...Instead of a shotgun, I think I'll leave my paintball gun by the front door for the next couple months.....
I think I'll go up and have a talk with the 'parent' tomorrow....
About 10:30, my wife and I were going upstairs to bed (luckily, my daughter was across the street at the neighbors spending the night) when I see a pickup truck in the street stopped in front of the house. Suddenly, a teenager gets out and starts running towards my front door, so I run down the steps to 'greet' him. I was a foot from the door when he hit the doorbell and ran, with me right out the door after him. I think he was a little surprised when somebody faster than what he expected came right out the door behind him. As soon as his buddies in the truck saw what was happening, they took off down the street, with the kid following, and me about 30 feet behind on his tail.
He had shoes. I was barefoot. I ran him through the yard, and down the street. I ran him so fast he ran out of both his tennis shoes (which I now have proudly displayed hanging on my front porch). The truck made a corner and stopped; I was about 15 feet from him when he jumped in the back of the truck and they drove off. Not close enough for a tag number, but a very good description. I watch the truck - instead of going out of the neighborhood and hightailing it out of here, I see them circle thru the neighborhood.
My wife calls the police. We live in a small town with the county sherrif spread pretty thin. The tell her it may be awhile before they get here.
Here's where it gets fun. In the meantime, I catch my breath, get some shoes on, and slip back outside in the shadows. I also put my shotgun just inside the door. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, a red Ford Taurus, drives back and forth suspiciously up the street. It stops where I confiscated the shoes, and some teens get out of the car and start looking. I started to run after them again, but the car was facing my way and would have to come right by me in my hidey spot (I wanted a tag #). When the car started to come up the street, I stepped out of my hide spot and authoritatively made the stop signal. The car stopped; I walked behind the car to come around (and got the tag #) and went up to the driver, a woman who appeared to be about 30. She says "Can I have the shoes" and I told her just to "pull on into the driveway and we could have a nice chat once the police get here". She says, "I'm not going to do that, and starts to drive away; I said "fine, because now I have YOUR tag number, too".
About a half hour later the Sherriff's deputy shows up. I give him the info, he runs the tag, and sure enough, the Red Taurus is registered about 2 streets away. The Deputy is going to go over and have a talk with the parents. He asks me about the shoes; by this time I've calmed down some and I tell the Deputy that if they come over tomorrow during daylight, and we have a little talk, he can have his shoes back.
The deputy comes back about a half hour later. The MOM was the one who was driving the car to find the shoes (and, SHE was the one that also did the un-adult thing and drove off - kids raising kids). The kid was from another town who was here with some friends. The lady's daughter was the reason these boys were up here, and they immediately took off. The deputy has the young man's number and is going to call and talk to him about what could have easily happened.
I'll bet that kid shait his pants when he hit that doorbell and I was about 3 feet behind him; I doubt he suspected that the 'old man' who lived there can still run 2 miles in around 18 minutes. And then his 'buds' left him hanging...
Now, either one or two things are gonna happen. The mom is gonna 'man up' or if she has a husband, he and I can talk this out, and nobody is ever gonna do that to my house again. OR, this is going to be a challenge and they are gonna be back...Instead of a shotgun, I think I'll leave my paintball gun by the front door for the next couple months.....
I think I'll go up and have a talk with the 'parent' tomorrow....
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Only if memories could be recorded and uploaded to youtube.
I'm sure they won't be back. 
