Everything in This Post is 100% True

I didn't expect it to go so quickly, but Lindsey and I pretty much finished up packing our house last night. There are still some random things lying around, but most of it needs to be used later to clean with, or doesn't need to be packed because it'll just be put straight into the truck. I guess since we've only been there four months, we didn't accumulate much stuff.

I got home from work yesterday at about 5:00 or so. Getting home was super easy, because they have taken down all of the checkpoints, so there is no waiting in line. Once I got home I started packing and let Lindsey take a break since she had been doing it since 10 am. I managed to completely empty our guest bedroom/bathroom and the utility room in a short period of time. I also packed some various bulky things around the house into a few large boxes I had picked up.

Around 9:45 pm we both started getting pretty hungry so Lindsey made Mac & Cheese. We ate that and then went outside to smoke.

We were sitting outside smoking our first cigarettes. Sometimes when we go out to smoke we smoke two in a row, which keeps us from going out as often. While we smoked the first we heard two loud pops in the distance that were startling. Lindsey looked at me and said, "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah" I said.
"What was it?"
"It could have been a gun but I hope it was just a car backfiring."
"Hmm."

We just ignored it. Whatever it was happened pretty far away so we forgot about it. We finished those first cigarettes and each lit a second. About ten minutes after hearing the sounds, and 1/4 of the way through the second smokes, we heard it again, only this time it was on our street. Four shots rang out, bang, bang, bang, bang. Then there was a pause, and finally a fifth shot, bang. Then we heard a dog whimpering pretty loudly.

What followed immediately is something of a blur because we both jumped up, ran inside, turned off every light in the house, grabbed the .38 Special, and hit the damned floor. I went to the front door to peer through the window and saw my neighbor standing outside, walking up and down the street. He was looking around trying to figure out if he really heard what he thought he heard. Then five NOPD cruisers showed up, each with two or three cops in them. I put my gun down in the house and went outside to see what was going on. Turns out my neighbor heard the shots from his living room and called the police. He asked me to tell them what I heard because they were looking at him like he was crazy, so I told them and our stories sounded exactly the same. Four shots, pause, one shot, dog whimpering. At that moment I found myself bathed in the pale light of helicopter spotlight beam. The cops said they'd take a look around and that we should call if anything else happened.

After that, the night was uneventful. I peered out the window periodically to check the street but all I ever saw was my neighbor standing outside smoking with a Colt .45 in his hand.

Lindsey and I were pretty shaken up so we didn't really do a whole lot more packing. I packed another two or three boxes, but mostly we just stayed up in the dark talking quietly about what a good decision we made to leave, and wondering how long we should wait before we tell her Dad.