Things that go bump in the night

I was exhausted yesterday and needed to decompress a little after work, making dinner* and giving our new dresser a second coat of tung oil. Around 10, Ken went to read in bed while I stayed up for a little TV and a glass of wine. Went upstairs around 11:45 -- brushed my teeth and got in bed just before midnight. Started to doze off when our doorbell rang at 12:08. What?! Ken was startled and sat straight up in bed in a daze. Did we hear that right?

It rings again about 30 seconds later.

OK, there's clearly someone there.

Doorbells ring, I understand that. Thing is, we don't know anyone very well in Portland -- it's not like Dave Herman or Rob Church will be standing at the door if we go downstairs. Second part, there are no lights on inside. Either we're not home or asleep. Either way, it's unlikely that ringing the doorbell is going to be unobtrusive. I convince Ken not to look downstairs. Instead we stand at our bedroom window above the porch and look outside to see who it is when they walk away. If it's someone we know, we'll rush down to see them.

Who is it? We hear nothing; they aren't moving. Pause. Then we hear someone walking around the porch downstairs. Sketchy. Are they going to break in since they think we're not home? We have our cell phones and if anything goes awry we can call the cops while Hughes fake meows and rubs up against the intruder in a pathetic attempt of defense. Then all of a sudden, a person walks down the stairs and away from the house while looking back. It's a man in his 40s who kind of looks like Gregg Allman but without the beard, no visible tatoos and light brown hair instead of blond. He doesn't look homeless, at least gathered by a somewhat presentable appearance and lack of shopping cart that tends to accompany some homeless people around here. Gregg Allman or not, we don't know him. We're not going after him. We do watch him though -- see him look around, cross the street to our neighbor's house and watch him ring the doorbell in the same manner he did ours. If our neighbors do answer and something goes awry, again we have our cell phones. They don't answer either. He turns around and continues up the street, not stopping at any other houses in view (and there are some). Bizarre. We get back in bed and talk about best and worst case scenarios.

Best case: he's in trouble and needs help or to use a phone. Maybe his car broke down. There is a busy street a couple of houses down. And based on where he was headed I would gather that he came from the other direction (which is that busy street). But, wouldn't you have a better chance of flagging down help there rather that knocking on random doors without any lights on? Besides, right at that 'major' street is a bar that is open until 3. I know they have a phone. OK, maybe his health or someone else's health is in trouble. Possible, but he wasn't moving quickly at all. If there was a medical rush, you'd never know it by his behavior.

Worst case: Maybe he's a meth addict or on some other drug. Meth is huge up here, so it wouldn't be that uncommon. You hear about it on the news all the time -- people breaking into houses to score money for drugs. Drugs or no drugs, worst case would be he could pull a gun or knife if we went to the door. Who knows? It's not worth it to answer the door that late. I learned that in Tucson -- all sorts of sketchy characters would knock on our door between 10-12. Every one asked for money or for us to drive them somewhere, the furthest being Three Points (about 30 minutes away). Freaked me out even more when I used to live alone. We learned to always say no. If you gave in to one demand, they'd come back with more and more.... and I don't mean "can I borrow a cup of sugar?"

Curious to talk to the other neighbors this weekend and to keep my ears open if anything was reported in the news or by police. Am I overreacting? I find this really bizarre. I don't see the good side as being the most logical here. Am I missing something? Also, I keep thinking about if he came 15 minutes earlier, I would have been downstairs by myself with the lights on. I would have really freaked out to hear the doorbell ring.


* Oh my goodness - Made the best chicken and dumplings I've ever had last night. Haven't had too many versions, but man were these good. Put a frozen chicken carcass (from dinner the night before) in the crockpot with some diluted turkey stock, onions, carrots, celery & garlic. Let it cook on low for 10 hrs while I was at work. Came home, strained the broth, picked the chicken and set it aside, then skimmed the fat off the top before Ken thickened it with a bit of flour before reheating it with some veggies (frozen assorted) and extra corn. Seasoned the biscuit dough with parsley and added a bit of cayenne to the broth. Brought broth to boil, dropped in spoonfuls of biscuit dough and reduced the heat to low. Covered and cooked on low for 10 minutes. Wow. Just a hint of cayenne and an awesome mouth-feel that left you satisfied by the end of the bowl. Thank you for the recipe, craigslist.