Events

Yesterday turned out to be very stimulating and quite eventful. I cleaned up and wandered over to the Dairy Center for the Arts a few minutes after noon - I had a "side" ticket to see Into the Woods, which means no specific seating - first come, first sit... So I waited with a rather large group in the lobby until we could take our seats. During this time, I read (an old Elizabeth Peters' book, Silhouette in Scarlet) and spoke with the mother of the young actress who was the Narrator for the play. I saw and spoke with Nancy, and later saw Joel briskly arrive. When the doors opened, I chose a seat at the (stage) right front corner, right in front of one of the floor speakers. I had an excellent view of the entire stage, and only missed two lines of the play - both delivered at the stage left front corner. I laughed and had a great time! It seems as if my cheek muscles are sore from smiling and grinning so delightedly during the entire performance. And I got to see Max on stage - Max off-stage, at home, seems rather quiet and reserved. He played Rapunzel's Prince in Into the Woods, and was a superb as a leering Prince, delivering double entendres, and his delivery of his part of the "Agony" duet (with his "brother" Prince) was hysterical! My hat is off to the entire cast and all the directors! After the huge ovation (it was the casts' last performance), I meandered over to IHOP and had a very late lunch around 4 p.m.

When I arrived back home, I opened the door for the kits to play outside, and answered my messages. I made two more appointments to take care of clients' critters, loved my critters, and then found that the local PBS station was showing Fiddler on the Roof (the Topol version) un-cut and uninterrupted. So that was on the TV for musical and cinematic enjoyment. I then looked at my requests on Facebook - and soon after I had signed on, my cousin Mike Barnes of Kansas City contacted me by Instant Messenger, and we "talked" until about 11:30. Normally I close the patio door around 9:30 each evening; but I didn't last night... And so, at 10:20, both Banichi and Lovey began to growl at the door. I went to take a quick look, and shut the door in the faces of two large raccoons. They mouthed off at me for about 30 seconds, and then trundled along to the south. After signing off from my talk with Mike, I decided to finish the chapter in Silhouette in Scarlet, and then turn out the lights.

Most of you who regularly read my posts know that my patio faces east; after the green sward of the yard is a 6 1/2 foot high solid wood privacy fence, which separates the apartment complex from the Millennium Harvest House Hotel - a pretty nice up-scale hotel/motel. During city-wide events and at-home football games, the Harvest House can get pretty loud. Before I turned out my light last night, near midnight, I heard two men yelling - their speech was slurred and they sounded like they were drunk and partying. I decided to ignore them and try to sleep. About ten minutes later my eyes popped open in the dark when a young, high-pitched, breathy voice started to scream, and then to yell a variety of things. The yelling included the following phrases, repeated many times and never quite the same way twice - "No!", "Get your hands off me!", "Don't touch me!", "What have I done?", "Help me! Help me!" The "no"s were scattered multiple times throughout and between the other phrases, as well as a few screams. I called 911 and reported it. I was assured someone was on the way. I then heard multiple male voices (not the drunken ones) and things quieted down. Ten minutes later, a fresh round of screaming erupted, along with several more "Help me"s, and a couple of "What the ___ have I done?"s. I called 911 again, and was assured that police were on the scene.

By this time, I was wide awake again, so I got dressed, grabbed a banana to snack on, and walked to the Harvest House's back parking lot. The fire department was there, an ambulance was there, 3 police cars and 2 police SUVs were there. The screamer, whom I never saw, was in the back of a squad car. There were two people sitting about ten feet apart on the sidewalk - one male, one female (both with an officer standing guard), and another man was talking to a group of three officers. The man sitting against the side walk was inebriated, and I recognized his voice as one of the two males I had heard. The female in the squad car started yelling again, and I recognized her voice as the screamer and yeller. I have no idea what the police reports will read, but the screaming female was taken to jail in the squad car. Both men and the other woman were released, after officers got all of their personal information. An officer approached me after I had been there watching for 10 minutes, and I identified myself as the person who had called the report in, so I had to make a statement and show them my ID. I finally calmed down around 2 this morning, and eventually fell asleep. Please note that I did not walk my usual 5 miles this morning - but there is still snow on the high peaks to the west, and we have clouds again today....