I've been up early grading the last batch of student papers and, luckily, decided to work at my dining room table. My dog, "B" was outside sunning himself (and watching the world go past our corner house) when all of a sudden I heard him barking up a storm--and for you dog owners, you know when your dog's bark has a different timbre and tenor to it--this one said "INTRUDER ALERT! A STRANGER IS APPROACHING THE HOUSE!" (he has a different bark for a dog walking by--it's part territorial and part, "Hey, maybe we could get together fora date at the dog park").
I looked up from my computer and saw A WOMAN STEALING MY OBAMA LAWN SIGN FROM MY FRONT YARD!!! (the unfenced portion).
[This is not a picture of my yard or sign, but it is a close approximation of where I had the sign placed in front of a large oak tree]
I jumped up and ran out of the house and screamed "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING???!!!"
The woman, upon seeing me rush out of my home and scream at her, slipped on a pile of leaves that we had just raked up yesterday. To her credit, she turned around and calmly talked to me instead of running away (which was good for me, because I'm in house slippers, and the thought of sprinting after her to retrieve the lawn sign wasn't something I really wanted to do).
According to this woman, she was working for Obama's campaign and had been instructed to go around the various neighborhoods of my Southern college town collecting lawn signs. I pointed out that she simply could have knocked on my door and asked me to remove it rather than coming onto my property and TAKING IT without asking, which is technically STEALING. She promptly apologized, quite sincerely, and then walked to the corner where a man was waiting for her.
So my question is this: REALLY??? Have Obama lawn signs become such a commodity that people are now resorting to STEALING THEM in BROAD DAYLIGHT??? Should I feel the way that disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich did about Obama's vacant senate seat--that my lawn sign is *golden* and that I should expect to reap the benefits of selling it off to the highest bidder? Is this all a sign of serious Obama-mania???
7 comments:
I think my assessment would depend on the age of the attempted-thief in question. When I was younger - and had "nothing better to do" - I'd definitely steal all sorts of random crap that wasn't bolted down with my friends, for no other reason than "it was fun to steal sh--."
However, if she were further along in her years, I would think more along the lines of the souvenir-thing. She saw it, thought, "I want one of those signs . . . is anybody looking?" Next thing you know, some scary lady in slippers is running out and yelling at her (I would use a winking emoticon here, but I just can't get myself to do it).
I am actually quite impressed with her quick thinking for her "explanation." Complete B.S., but not bad, considering the assumed time she had to come up with something.
CVT,
I know what you mean about the things we do at a young and tender age--I've had my share of stupid pranks or being dragged into stupid pranks--I'll save them to embarass myself later on this blog.
But this woman was middle-aged--I didn't get to look at her very long, but definitely older than me--which means I'd say late 40s to early 50s. And the man on the corner was also middle aged.
So yes, it was creative quick thinking. But the sign is actually not so aaccesible at street level--she had to creep pretty deep into the unfenced portion of my hard, and then she had to leap over a barrier of two-foot high leaf piles to get back to the street. She clearly wanted the sign BAD.
By the way, I think I did look totally crazy running out of the house. When I'm in work mode I barely brush my teeth in the morning before settling down in front of the computer, and I have a good set of pipes on me, so she probably really did think I was going to run and tackle her if she didn't give up the sign.
And the crazy thing is, I did contemplate it--so can you just imagine this, two adult women tussling in the street over an Obama yard sign? I'd have made the evening news for sure.
It's a shame . . . that would have been a fun video to watch on this site . . .
I'm intimidated just thinking about it, petite thing that I am.
You know, (speaking of pranks) I still feel a little bad after all these years about the "Boopy the cat" incident. I hurt that poor girls pride, I think.
HA! I haven't thought of Boopy the Cat in a long time...
And as an update on the lawn sign issue--I shared this story with some friends at a holiday party this weekend and apparently there is a rash of thefts regarding Obama signs, so there really IS Obama-Mania going on.
I feel like saying to these people:
WWOD?
(What Would Obama DO)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I drank the cool-aid. But oh, it was so sweet and refreshing!
obama mania will be around for a long time
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