12:08am Excitement

Doug went out on the porch to listen for fireworks at about 11:57. He wanted to see if any of our neighbors would put on a display. No one did. He was surprised. Geoff came upstairs and turned the TV on that we'd just turned off. I decided to go to bed but when he came upstairs, I thought I'd stay with him to watch the ball drop. 

Once that was over, he turned the TV off and went back downstairs, we both could hear some fireworks in the far distance, but none visible. I wondered how long Doug would be outside, longing for a display. 

I brushed my teeth, got in bed, and our dog was very happy to join me. He doesn't understand when we stay up late. He's always ready to go to bed at 10. 

We snuggled in, and I played with my phone. Doug came in and went to the bathroom to get himself ready. 

12:04am. I could hear sirens in the distance and said to myself, "Well. That didn't take long for something to happen. Wow. Happy New Year to someone, I guess." 

Phineas stood up at full attention a minute or so later, and I said "settle down, Doug is just in the bathroom, he'll be in soon." Then I looked up and could see blue and red lights flashing in my living room through the picture .

Huh. 

That's what got Phin's attention. I got up and put on my fleece pj pants, said something to Doug through the bathroom door about fire apparatus being parked right outside our house. They were going to my neighbor's house. The one who came over for brunch last year. 

We hadn't seen him for a long time. He works a travel job, and is gone for months at a stretch. He had tenants in the basement, and they moved out in the fall. He had contracted a lawn service, but they never came to mow the lawn, and he asked us one day to mow the lawn for him. The grass was too high, and our mower couldn't handle it, so I found a neighbor's lawn service guys, got their contact info, got it connected for him. 

There were people staying in the house periodically, though. Sometimes I'd see cars with out of state plates, and usually that's a rental car. One day a woman struggled down the steps with a suitcase heavier than she was, and dragged it to the sidewalk in time for an Uber to get her. 

So people coming to the area on vacation, friends? Air BnB? I wasn't going to fuss and ask. No one was hurting anything. 

But last night was new.  I texted his number to say "hey are you okay? are you home? there are police and emergency people at your house. Want to make sure you're okay, and if you're away, that you know." Didn't get a text back, didn't expect one.

A fire truck/EMTs, an ambulance. Then police cars. Four men. I can hear very little over the roar of the engines. They were all unsteady on their feet. One of them walked under his own power with some help to the ambulance, for evaluation. 

Doug and I were not sure who these guys were? We were confused? The lights from the emergency equipment were making it hard to see who the people were, even though everything was very bright, flood lights but also flashing lights. 

The police separated the other 3 guys. I could hear Spanish being spoken, which confused me too since our neighbor isn't from a Spanish speaking country, but perhaps these guys are friends? Co-workers? Air BnB guys all of them? 

After a while the ambulance left, the paramedic truck left. There were five police cars at this point. I could hear one of the officers speaking English with one of the guys over by a car with Florida plates, saying "well, what do you want us to do? Do you want us to arrest him, are you going to press charges?" 

The other two guys were being dealt with by a female officer and they were speaking Spanish, and one of those guys started yelling at the cops about how they wanted them to take the guy away who was closest to us. 

Two cops were positioned in between the two groups. It was interesting to watch the setup. 

There was a lot of "Do you have somewhere else to stay tonight? Friends, a hotel? Anything?" and the guy closest to us said he just wanted to go in and go to sleep. 

"I feel stupid. I'm embarrassed. I just want to go to bed." So the officer dealing with him brought him inside. 

One of the other guys was yelling about the "motherfucker" and how he should "just go back to fucking Mexico," and "I just want to go into my house and go to sleep. It's my house. He should leave." 

One of the police said that he should have thought about that "before you married him." Oh. Okay, this is some sort of a domestic, not just drunken friends. Interesting. There was some laughter and "yeah, I know. Motherfucker."

It ended up that the other two were told to sleep in different rooms, or find somewhere else to go. There are hotels all over the area. If you go inside, just stay away from each other.  An officer brought it all to conclusion, and said "It's a busy night tonight, I do not want to come back here. Don't make it so I have to come back here." 

The men all went inside. The police left. It was maybe 1:00am. 

We headed to bed, Doug put on a police scanner app on the phone to see if we could learn anything at all. 

We heard about a car crash a few blocks away, on the main drag but inside the beltway
A suicide, 17 yr old unresponsive
A fight at a house party, but nowhere near us so it wasn't "our" incident
A baby was being born, they were rushing to the hospital in an ambulance

A busy night indeed. 

My neighbor texted me around 11am. He thanked me for checking in, said he "had a rough night," but "everything is okay" now. I asked if it was him going off in the ambulance and he said yes. But he's home now. 

I told him I didn't want to come off as nosy, but Doug and I were super concerned. Happy that he was okay, and wished him a good new year. And that's all we need know. He doesn't have to tell us anything else. It's okay as long as he's okay. 

Maybe we'll have brunch again soon.