We live in an amazing six unit complex. Our neighbours are wonderful, their kids are great (we have nine kids- soon to be 10!- six years and under), and we all get along (knock on wood).
We’re close. Quite close.
Sometimes a little too close…
… especially if you don’t lock the front door.
My husband Mark was home alone the other day and jumped in the shower. He heard someone downstairs, and assumed it was me or Lucy and Sam, our five year old twins (a pretty safe assumption). So he wasn’t concerned when he heard footsteps come up the first set of stairs, or the second set of stairs, or the third set of stairs (our house is a split level- lots of stairs). And he wasn’t concerned when he heard the bathroom door fly open because, again, he assumed it was me or the kids.
Wrong.
It was our six year old neighbour. (To protect the young and not-so-innocent, we’ll call him “Jimmy.”)
“Hey Mark. Where are Lucy and Sam?” Jimmy asks as he saunters into the bathroom, looking at Mark through the glass shower doors.
“Uh… Hey Jimmy. They’re at the playground right now,” Mark says, not quite sure how long the conversation is going to last.
“Okay,” Jimmy says as he starts looking around the bathroom.
There’s a moment of silence before Mark says, “They’ll be home soon, Jimmy.”
“Okay.”
Another moment of silence while Jimmy makes himself at home in the bathroom.
“Uh…. Maybe you should wait outside for them.”
“Okay,” Jimmy says as he heads towards the bathroom door.
Mark laughs to himself as he starts to wash his hair.
“Hey Mark! Guess what?” Jimmy says as he turns around and comes back into the bathroom.
“What Jimmy?”
“I burned my arm! Wanna see it?”
“Uhhhhh…”
At this point, Jimmy is right up against the glass shower door, showing Mark the bandage on his arm.
“I was reaching for my juice over the stove. And there was a hot pan on the stove and I accidentally hit my arm on the pan.”
“Ouch. That must have hurt.”
“It really did hurt.”
Silence.
“Uhhhh… Okay Jimmy. Maybe you should wait outside for Lucy and Sam.”
“Okay. See you later, Mark.”
“Sounds good, Jimmy.”
Jimmy turns around and finally leaves the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, Mark heads downstairs and finds Jimmy sitting on the couch, waiting for Sam and Lucy. I guess Jimmy thought Mark meant “wait outside the bathroom” not “wait outside the house.”
Mark really does have to be more specific with his instructions.
Or he could just remember to lock the front door.
