the Barricade

This has been slowly giving me a headache all morning long:


We're now into the afternoon and the whirling sound of a helicopter circling the neighborhood is continuing to give me the darnedest headache. That and a whining Rhys trying to get me to do something with the box the bean bag came in.

An hour or so before I'm due to pick Henry up from school I get a call from my next door neighbor who asks me if I know what's going on. I reply 'no but it sure is giving me a headache'. She fills me in, telling me that she was on her way back in when she saw that the street was blocked off with yellow tape and a hive of officers. She adds that while on the way home one of the college kids next door asked one of the officers what was going on, and was told that there was a man with a gun running loose down the street! And to please keep the doors and windows locked and stay indoors.


I get off the phone and ponder what I'm going to do with Henry. I call Kenny and give him the update. He suggests that I go pick up Henry and don't come back for a while, just so that we're out of the area. Just in case. While considering my options, a police officer comes towards the house. I ask if it's ok for me to go pick up my son from school and am told that I just need to go around the block to exit. I'm also told that they have a burglary suspect cornered in a house down the street. They are getting ready to deploy the canine unit and everything is under control.


Ah, life in the big bad city.