Sheepdog Duty

It was a dark, and stormy night... Not really; but it was dark.

I was awake. Not just awake; DAMN awake. Damn prednisone. No wonder the bottle says that I should take it in the morning... It was about 12:30am as I lay in bed trying pry my eyelids from their full and upright position. I became increasingly aware of a helicopter that was flying in passes around our neighborhood, lower and lower. After a while they started broadcasting something over the loudspeaker to the homes they were flying over. I couldn't make out the whole message, but it included locking doors, and calling 911, which made it obvious to me that someone dangerous was around, and that we should lock our doors, and report any suspicious activity. I walked to the window, cell phone in hand, and parted the shades.

A number a years back when I was in middle school, the police were looking for someone in my our neighborhood. He was eluding the police by hopping the walls between backyards. My mom woke from the noise, and saw someone hiding in our backyard. She called 911, and the police who were searching over 500 feet down the street rushed over to apprehend the loser. The police found marks on our back door where he seemed to try to pry the door open with something. People avoiding the police are scared and desperate, and that memory pushed to the front of my brain as I stared out the window at the circling helicopter, and the darting spotlight.

I watched for some time, keeping track of the flight pattern of the helicopter, and where exactly the spotlight shone. After about 20 minutes, I was relieved to see the spotlight hover over one spot for some time, and see flashing blue lights against the high walls of the building near the spot. This told me that they had found who they were looking for. I returned to bed, and uttered a vulgar word as I heard the helicopter resume it's previous flight pattern, and loud speaker message.

I was 110% awake now with no prospect of sleep in sight. I stared down a side street we had a good view of from our second story apartment for any activity. Then I realized that it was silly to have such a limited view to watch for suspicious activity or threats, so I thought of a better position. Right outside our front door. Our complex is like two rectangular areas stuck together (like a big, square eight) All the doors faced inward, to the pool areas. Standing at our front door would give me an elevated view of the entire square, and all four entrances. I put on some clothes and a jacket, shoved my cell phone in my pocket, and grabbed my flashlight.

And there I was. 1 in the morning. Standing in front of my door, looking out at the still, dark quad. Cold, alert, and a little nervous; but it just felt right. I looked at the helicopter circling overhead, shining it's spotlight here and there, and felt pride knowing that this small community didn't have someone hundreds of feet in the air making passing glances at their neighborhood to ensure their safety; they had someone standing right there, watching and listening for anyone who might do harm. Someone connected to them, who shared their fate, who wasn't afraid to stand up and say, "I'm hopped up on prednisone, why don't I do a little guard duty?" (I joke, of course, but I don't recall seeing any other drugged up blokes out there that night)

After about an hour of keeping watch, and the occasional walk down to view the other quad, the helicopter left. I knew that one of three things had happened; they'd either found their man and were returning triumphantly, or they ran low on fuel from the diligence of their search and left, soon to return and resume their post dutifully watching over those who relied on them for their safety, or they got bored and gave up. So, after giving them the benefit of the doubt for about 20 minutes, I gave the Huntington Beach Police station a call, and guess which of the three they had chosen? I don't think I even have to tell you. So, this was about 2am, Homeboy McLoserpants was still wandering around our neighborhood, and Huntington Beach's finest were probably gearing up for their 3am nap. (Don't deny it; I've known a lot of police officers from quite a few different departments, so don't you even start.) So I zipped up my jacket, then unzipped it, after I remembered how it prints when zipped up, and decided I'd give Mr. McLoserpants an hour to get settled. (hopefully in some bushes somewhere, and not someone's house)

From 2 to 2:45 I walked the full length of the complex, parking lot and all a number of times, and shined my Surefire E2 at all the dark spots I could find. For the last 15 minutes, I settled back down in front of my door to wait out the last bit of my watch. Some time during that 15 minutes I head some people approaching, and gave them a quick look and a nod. They seemed a little wierded out, so I decided to talk to them a little.

Me: You guys just getting in?
Female: Yeah, do you live here?
Me: Yup, right here. I heard the helicopter looking for someone, so I figured I'd just hang out to make sure no one shows up.
Male: Yeah, we heard the helicopter earlier, but it looked like they caught someone by the corner. There was some kind of accident there, and they have a lot of cops and crime tape up by the offramp.
Me: It looked like they caught someone, but after they finished, the helicopter started circling again with the spotlight.
Male: Is the helicopter gone now?
Me: Yeah; they left about an hour ago. I called up to see if they found who they were looking for, and it turns out they just kinda gave up.
Female: They gave up?
Me: Yeah, they couldn't find 'em so they stopped looking.
Male: I think there's someone dead over there with all the cops. The car was really messed up.
Me: If there's a large area closed off, it's probably a crime scene, as opposed to just an accident.
Male: I was just thinkin' there's probably a body down there.
Me: Well, I just want to make sure that no-body comes in here.
That last bit was a little corny, but he was getting annoying.

At 3:01, I went back into the apartment, and in about 30 minutes I was asleep. On to the next adventure...

The next day my girlfriend saw a neighborhood watch poster in the laundry room, and brought it in for me.