Too bad these posts don't have time stamps, because you'd all get to see that I'm posting this at 1:24 am. Why am I keeping vampire hours, you ask?

Because at 12:40 am an extremely loud banging started hammering against the wall my headboard is on, which woke up my four year old, the Vampire, who gleefully got up (he sleeps in my bed, and Peanut Pants sleeps in our room in her crib). At first I thought my neighbor had lost his mind and was hammering in nails. Nope. Someone was banging on his door. Loudly.

FOR TWENTY MINUTES.

I finally had enough, went on the porch, stood on my chair, and leaned over the fence, "Um, could you maybe call them or something, because you're waking up my kids?" A woman answered "I don't have a phone number for them, do you?" "No, I don't know who they are, but please, you're waking up my kids!" "I'm sorry." "It's okay."

NOTE: I heard the distinctive sound of a very young, very miserable, small child while I was talking to her.

The banging continued. With some yelling added in. I finally gave up and called the apartment answering service and asked if we had a courtesy officer on property. They took my info and said they'd call one.

More banging. About ten minutes more. Call husband at work and ask for advice. He said wait and see if a courtesy officer shows up in the next ten minutes or so, ask again a little more forcefully, then tell her if she doesn't cut it out, I'm going to have to call the cops.

Courtesy Officer (an off-duty cop) shows up. Starts talking to her, and I sprint to my porch door to hear what's going on. She's stranded here and has no way to go somewhere else and the person she's supposed to know in the apartment isn't home. I didn't know that, and now I feel bad. Mostly for the kid and his bad mother that has him underdressed. After some discussion, officer calls someone to pick her up, and said person will be here in 10-15, and that she'd be in the laundry room (which is doorless, but at least a little more protected from the elements)

My liberal guilt overwhelms me, and all I can think about is that poor kid with no coat, so I grab an old coat out of the kids' closet and take it out there to her and tell her I hope her ride came soon. She said she was at a party and thought my neighbor would be home and thanked me for the coat.

Dude, I feel terrible for calling someone on her, and if she would have asked to use my phone I would have let her, but DAMN, IT'S ONE FUCKING O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING AND YOU'RE IN THE COLD WITH YOUR POOR LITTLE BABY WITH NO MOTHERFUCKING COAT BECAUSE YOU WERE AT A MOTHERFUCKING PARTY AND DIDN'T FUCKING PLAN WHERE YOU WERE GOING AFTERWARDS, YOU ASSHOLE.

And now what I've vented my entire spleen, I'm going back to bed. I will have to hogtie and tranq Vampire to get him back to sleep.

ARGH!

no, no, i think you did the right thing. Many people wouldn't have offered the coat. (And dude, wtf, why take your kid to a party and leave for some random house you don't have a phone number for, at 1am??) Now I feel sorry for her kid. :(

They don't have cabs in Houston?

She told the cop she didn't have any $.

You're a good woman, Ellie.

I second LG. And I'm sorry you didn't get any sleep last night.

Oy. I had a bad incident with strangers knocking on doors. at an apartment years ago - nothing major, just cranked out rednecks who kept stopping by my apartment after we helped them with a flat tire. I would have called the courtesy patrol, too.

The whole thing is just sad.

As irritating and frustrating as I am sure that was, you were on the side of the non-denominational angels this morning, Ellie!

Nah, it's no thing, but thanks. We have about 7 coats for the boys and I really needed to get rid of the one I gave her, so at least I know it went to something useful. Poor kid.

Ellie, you are just building up the good karma. That was very sweet of you to give that child a coat.

that was nice of you, ellie. i think calling the officer was the right thing to do.

Really sad.
But MNM is right several karma points to Ellie.

Well, I'll take all of the good karma I can get. If it would only translate into a big sack of money left at my door. Or maybe one of those Secret Millionaires (from the new fox reality show) showing up. Or a rich uncle I didn't know I had?

That's still better than the time a couple of drunk college students walked into our apartment at 2 am. They must have posed no threat to my german shepherd/st benard mix cause she let them get all the way to the bathroom.

That was the last time we forgot to lock our door.

You are a very good person, and you did the right thing.

But why did she have this small child, underdressed, at a party at 1:30 am? I wonder if the cops might ahve been a good route to go. But then I'm a hardass when it comes to protecting kids.

HBD - She got rowdy with the cop until he told her that if she didn't lower her voice and calm down he was going to arrest her and call CPS for her kid. She was really polite after that.

Leaving the party could easily have been a good choice to keep the child safe. Not going in the first place may have been even better but honestly, I've on occasion had my kids in their jammies at the grocery store, so I'm willing to write anyone a (single) get out of judgement free card for havig an underdressed kid.

In this house it's usually me who isn't properly dressed. We got a oouple inches of snow this weekend and I still have to track down my winter coat.

Wookie - I doubt you were in the store with no way to get home, having sent your ride on their merry way. You would have had some sort of backup plan or at least some form of money on you to get a cab, right?