I did something very stupid. Something that if you seen it on the news or read about it in a paper you would shake your head at and think ‘stupid ass!’.

Last night, around 10:30, I woke up to Miyagi barking. Both of the boys were still up so I asked one of them to check on Miyagi down in the garage. Once Okoye went down I got up myself and headed downstairs but met Okoye half way down the stairs. When I asked him what it was he shrugged his shoulders and said nothing that he could see so I headed back to bed.

All of a sudden I wake up to the door bell ringing. When I seen it was 11:12 my first thought was that it was one of my niece’s. I was groggy so I was having trouble putting on my pj pants, hopping around with one leg in, one leg out when I stumbled into Okoye standing in my door way. He said ‘mom, it’s a crazy looking white dude!’ I’m still struggling with my pants when the doorbell rings again then several knocks.

I go down the steps and then stupid ass me cracks the door open. He says to call 911 and that its an emergency…immediately my mind goes to the horror stories of women who fall for the ‘car breaking down story’ and I grab the door tighter and pray that my glass outside door is locked (we are talking through the glass). I said I will and he said ‘tell them to come here and pick me up. there’s an emergency at….’ And he gives an address that’s about quarter of a mile away. I try to summon up some sort of bravado and I said I am calling the police RIGHT NOW’ to which he nodded. About that time Miyagi lets out a growl that made the hairs on the back of my hair stand up. Miyagi bumped me from behind so I moved to the side a little so he could see him, which he did so I closed the door and locked both locks on the inside door.

I told Okoye to get the phone. When he did, I heard my outside door open and then he tried the door knob. I yelled through the door that I was calling the police and he yelled back ‘call 911!’ I yelled ‘I’m calling the police!’ and he yelled again ‘its an emergency! Tell them to pick me up here!’. So Okoye gets the phone and I call 911. I’m telling the lady everything and I hear her typing away and then she stopped and asked ‘is that him?’ Because he was outside yelling to call the police. I said yes and she asked if I knew him. I told her no and she said okay, I’m dispatching squad cars out. I hung up with her and felt very overwhelmed. And stupid. Before I could call Lawrence, my phone rang. It was dispatcher .

She asked if I could give her a description so I gave her a description. By this time Jalil had a butcher knife, Okoye had a baseball bat and Miyagi was pacing and growling. I called Lawrence and told him what was going on. He couldn’t believe how loud the guy was yelling. He asked where I was standing and he said ‘get away from the door’ so I moved up the stairs a little but enough where I could see downstairs, out the bay window and I knew what every one was doing. Lawrence kept saying it was taking too long and by this time I had begun to sweat and stomach cramps were flipping around. He said to have Okoye call 911 from his cell phone so Okoye called. And then, it was quiet. Miyagi stopped pacing. Even laid down at the windows. Lawrence said if they hadn’t shown up by 11:30 to call Kerry and have him come over. Soon as he said that, I seen a sheriff’s car come down the street with spotlights on.

I opened the door for the sheriff and was explaining to him what the guy was saying, how he was acting and he asked if I got a look at him so I went into description. As I’m describing him I had my eyes closed and even went into detail about his hair, to which I opened my eyes and the sheriff stopped me ‘did you open the door?’. Tears started to fall and I nodded and I could hear Lawrence saying ‘baby, …..’ The sheriff said ‘okay we’ll be back either way so lock up’. I locked the outside door and locked the inside door. Lawrence said to go through the house and check everything else so the boys and I went through checking doors and windows making sure they were locked. I told Lawrence I was good and that I would call him tomorrow to which he wanted to stay on the phone with me until they came back and I said it was okay. I really just wanted to get off the phone.

I grabbed my green blankie and a pillow and went to sleep in the living room, looking out the window and near the stairs so that I could hear anything that was going on downstairs. Miyagi plopped down beside the couch and the boys went and got into my bed. I watched the police cars going by…back and forth with their spotlights on and finally one stopped in front of the house. I got up to answer the door. When he said they couldn’t find anything I remembered the address the guy yelled out and I told the sheriff. He went back to the car and headed in that direction and the boys plopped down on the floor with Miyagi. We started talking about practices for the week, New Year’s Eve, and trying to plan a trip to KC to go shopping. Anything to take our minds off of what was going on. Finally, Jalil said ‘the cops are here’ and I jumped up to answer the door. The sheriff said that they picked him up, wandering down on the street that I gave him. He said ‘we have him in custody due to a medical/mental….well, we have him in custody.’ I said good and I thanked him and he said ‘ma’am….NEVER never open your door. Yes you have a big dog but why risk it’.

I wasn’t even thinking bravado like that. Point blank…I wasn’t thinking at all. It scares me how bad this could have turned out. Not only with me but my boys as well. Anything could have happened to me. To them. My twisted mind thinks about not only I could have been made to witness but what THEY could have been made to witness. Lord, PLEASE don’t let me be this stupid again.