Witness Protection Program

I just thought I'd share this lighthearted story from years past. My husband had taken a job in Springfield MO 5 years ago and we bought a little fixer upper in not the best of neighborhoods, but not the worst either. Directly across the street from us was another young family that we instantly connected with. We are still good friends today even after moving back here to AR. We would play cards at their house, we went to church together, grilled out together. It was just great. Our other neighbors however....not so much. The neighbors in the houses on both sides of us and on one side of our friends. were not in the routine of going to work yet had visitors, dozens of them, stopping for 5 minutes at a time all hours of the day. So while the neighbors themselves were nice enough, you just don't want your kids to be in that kind of atmosphere. So one by one I did my civic duty and left tips on the police hot-line. The 1st bust was quiet and we ended up with some young, alternative college guys that kept to themselves. The 2nd bust was so exciting! I woke up with flashes in our bedroom and thought someone was in the yard. I was right, their were about 10 policeman sneaking up on our neighbors house, I jump out of bed and run to the other room where I can see better. The paddy wagon pulled up and cars were everywhere. They eventually were taking pictures of everyone and handcuffing them and off they went. Our neighbors house was empty for about 6 months then went up for sell. 2 down and 1 to go. The last neighbor across the street that had traffic was not as sever. Plus it was a single mom and her teenage son, so I thought maybe it was a possibility that these were just friends of his stopping by. However, one afternoon a storm came up and Allen was out of town working. Here I am with 3 babies. The tornado was on a direct path to hit our neighborhood within the next 10 minutes. I run over to their house because they have a basement and they won't let us join them. They acted really strange and said they didn't let anyone in their basement. I was so frighten at this point I wanted to scream at her, "I don't care if you have body in your basement!" So I run back home and throw all of us in the tub cover with blankets, grabbed some shoes for everyone and a bottle and pulled the mattress over the top. We sat and waited. The direct path missed us by about 10 blocks. But it was still frightening. We had shingles off, a tree down, and all sorts of wonderful and strange debris in the yard. So needless to say I called in my tip to the police the next day. That night. My dear sweet friend across the street comes over crying and laughing. "Did you call the police on us?" What? No. The police got confused on which house number and searched my friends house. She said the police actually told her that the neighbor across the street had called in a tip! So much for anonymous hot-lines. Eventually they did bust the 3rd and final house on our street. However, if my family and I completely drop off the face of the earth, you'll know it's because I have been forced to enter the witness protection program!