i picked our seven year-old up from daycare yesterday, with my wife picking up the four year-old. we got home first. as i hit the garage door opener and looked into the garage, i said, "look we beat mom......WHY IS OUR DOOR OPEN!?"
yep, the front door was wide open. as though you might leave it when making lots of trips in and out of a house with someone else's shit to load in your truck.
almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth, my son said, "i'm scared" and started crying. he assumed, as did i, that we had been broken into and that the perpetrator might still be in the house.
i parked the car in the garage and told him to "STAY HERE AND DON'T GET OUT!". i ran in the house and looked around, pausing long enough to notice that there were no crowbar marks, broken windows or anything that resembled forced entry near the door. our dog came running out of the kitchen to greet me, which was strange considering that he could have gone right out the door at any time.
upon getting to the living room, i noticed that neither our tv nor our stereo or dvd player was missing. thinking i wanted a weapon of some sort before i investigated the house, i went into the kitchen and grabbed a formidable knife. with knife in one hand and phone in the other (as if i would have time to dial 911 if confronted - "excuse me, sir, let me just call this in before you attempt to kill me") i headed upstairs, dog jumping on me as though everything were normal.
i looked in our bedroom. tv in place. digital camera sitting on my nightstand. guest room? computer still there. tv still there. game room, tv and wii still there. video camera sitting out in the open.
i looked behind every door and in every closet. no signs of anyone having been there.
when i got back downstairs, i could hear my son crying in the garage, going, "DADDY? DADDY? DADDY?" over and over again. i felt bad that i left him out there and went out to calm him down. i assured him that the house was clear and we went inside together. i was trying to explain to him that if someone had been inside the house, they didn't take anything, which lead me to believe that no one had come in. he joined in by pointing out things that could have been stolen. his list included the sunscreen sitting on the kitchen bar, the four year-old's shoes, and the tv remote. his point of view always makes me laugh.
once i had sufficiently calmed him down, i called my wife and said, "WHERE ARE YOU?!?" she said she was on her way home and wondered why i was shouting at her. i explained what i found and that i was trying to figure out if she had gotten home first and then left. she had not.
i'll fast forward through all of the discussions and theories, but the initial theory that i proposed to her turned out to be the correct one (we think). the four year-old had unlocked the door in the morning without telling anyone. it only took five minutes of interrogation before he admitted it. he may or may not have left it slightly cracked. we also think it didn't open until late in the day, or the dog would have left. we think he was sleeping and never noticed it.
anyway, looks like we really dodged a bullet and this morning i think my wife, my oldest boy and i each checked the door 68 times before leaving.
