I was home alone and thought I heard a thump across the house this morning. Then silence. As I was settling back into my task, I heard another thump followed by a crash. That will make your heart stop. I punched in 911 and headed for the kitchen, aforementioned heart beating audibly in my ears.
I was ready for a bad guy, if you know what I mean. I walked boldly into the kitchen to find my cat staring wide-eyed from the counter. This cat has developed a taste for bread. She has taken that taste to the next level by opening cupboards in pursuit of potato bread. “Rose!” I said. “Why?”
I suppose that if she could talk she would say it’s for the same reason that we like potato bread. It’s amazing stuff. I slipped my phone in my pocket and shooed her away. As I assessed the mauled loaf, I was startled by a shrill sound. I grabbed my phone and realized that as I put it in my pocket, I’d dialed 911. I wonder why it has to make that horrid sound. It reminds me of the annoying sound when you call a fax line. That seems completely out of place.
A recording of a male voice informed me what I had indeed reached 911. A female voice translated for him into Spanish. I fumbled for the phone and swiftly did what any panicked false dialer would do. I hung up.
Then I thought, “That was the wrong thing to do, you dingbat. Now they’ll surely come. What do I do?”
I consulted Aunty Google who said that if you call 911 on accident, don’t hang up. Wait for the dispatcher and let them know it was an accident, otherwise they’ll send an officer out. I was a little late for that. So, I called myself a dingbat again as I sometimes do and called back. It can be a long wait when you call 911. A live person finally came on and I explained that I was just calling to say have a nice day. She was very understanding.
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But that got me onto 2 thoughts. One, what if it was an emergency? The shrill noise would surely give me away to an intruder. Two, what if there was an intruder and they made me call back to avert a response? The whole time I would be in trouble and the police weren’t coming. What if…?