Labor Day Morning Breakfast

It was about 5am, got up early to have some breakfast. Decided on pouring myself some nice warm oatmeal. I didn’t have a proper kettle so I just ended up boiling some water on a pot. While this was warming up, I decided to grab some fruit and start cutting it up. Chopping away at the fruit, I turned the TV on and put on some morning Netflix. As I was turning around to head back to the kitchen, I noticed out of the corner of my eye someone that was leaving my backyard. WTF!!! What is going on? Eh, maybe it’s just the manager looking through my backyard to make sure all is in compliance. Nothing to worry about for now, until I get a letter requesting I get rid of all the weeds in the back. Anyways back to the oatmeal because I have to get a healthy breakfast before my quick morning shower. Looking out the kitchen window, I see someone very conspicuous. With a black tank top, saggy over sized jeans and some flip flops. This person immediately stands out like a sore thumb. I know immediately that he doesn’t belong to the neighborhood. He might be on drugs, looking very confused and very lost in the area. I walk to the door, crack it open and peek out. He’s still around, he hasn’t seen me. I wonder if he will is trying to scout locations, its a holiday but he might think people are away, at 5am tho? people are probably still sleeping. I have to do something about it, I can’t just go up to him, what if he has a weapon, a knife, a gun? What if he’s on drugs, or mentally unstable, he could snap and try to attack me. I have to do something tho, I can’t just let him roam around, I have little ones running around here sometimes, This can’t be going on in the neighborhood. Screw it, I can’t let fear stop me from doing the right thing. I stop down one step, two steps, three. He looks up and sees me, no going back now. He turns around and tries avoid me. “Hey!! what are you doing here!!, Are you looking for someone? Can I help you find someone? He says no, just walks in the other direction, no more fear, I try to keep my distance just in case and not give off any aggressive vibes . Trying to be loud but not yelling, enough to where he can hear me at about fifty feet. He walks out, I turn around as he’s walking towards the exit. Problem solved? I’m still a bit uneasy about just letting him walk out on his own. Screw it, I turn around and walk around the other end. I can just make sure hes out. What!! He’s not there what happened, I just turned around for 3 seconds, where did he go? Did he get to sneak into someone’s backyard? Someone’s front door that might’ve been unlocked? Damn, I messed up bad, I’m going to feel so guilty if someone gets hurt. Walking around looking, trying to peep over the backyards, seeing if I could spot any sign of him. It’s been about 5 minutes now, that’s a very long time for a stranger to be in someone’s house. Damn, this was supposed to be my day off, my one rest day that I decided to take off during the week. It’s a holiday, I shouldn’t have to be doing all this detective work, now i’m stuck. Since I seen him and stepped outside I feel like it’s my responsibility. I’m looking around, no sign of any other neighbors out here. OK, lets walk back towards home, maybe by some chance he went the other way. I get home, nobody to be seen around the area. OK, I’m going inside, i’ll keep my eyes on the small street, seeing if I spot someone then I’ll come back out. Let’s finally make some breakfast. Water has been boiling, it’s yelling at me that it’s ready to be served. I grab my tube of oatmeal, plain without flavor trying to have breakfast as healthy as possible, at least for as long as I can hold out. Chopping up the fruits, half a banana, half a peach and some raspberries. Pour some oatmeal, some water and top it off with some fruit toppings. No added sugar, besides whats in the fruits. Let’s keep this as plain as possible at least for the next couple of days. As I’m placing the pot of water in the sink, I look out the window and holy poo marbles, I see that guy walking back towards my place, this time he has a bike. He’s just walking it. He didn’t have this before, I know it’s not his. He must’ve gotten it from someone’s backyard. Geezus, I need to go back outside and confront him, hopefully this isn’t the part where I end up getting attacked by some homeless guy. “Hey!!, what are you doing.!!! That’s not your bike. Do you live around here.” He replies with a nod. Again, I ask “Where do you live?” La Palma he murmurs. You can’t be around here, you need to leave and drop off that bike where you left it. He says ok, I could barely understand him as he seems like he’s super sleepy or out of it. He has been walking the bike, but now he stumbles as he throws 1 leg over it. I’m about to lose him, if he jumps on that bike hes gone. All this for nothing. I tried to confront him from the beginning so I could avoid him doing something like this. Should I tackle him? If we go to the ground, I’m 100 percent sure I can control him, but I need to make the call or have someone call for help, authorities, anyone I cant just hold him forever. I need someone out here for support. Looking around, nobody is awake, It’s almost 6am but nobody and no sign of anyone being awake, no lights on or anything and I can’t just yell for anyone to come out. Ok, lets try to customer service this guy until he can give me the bicycle on his own. “Hey, do you need some help? Do you need me to help you find a way out? He just says no and rides very slowly trying to balance himself on the bike, trying not to fall off. Ok, I just walk behind him. He gets off the bike. Goes to the neighborhood designated car wash spot. Grabs the hose and tries to clean his feet off and drink a bit of water. As I’m asking him questions as to where he’s from, what he’s doing around here, what does he want, or who he’s looking for. I finally go back inside and grab my phone, I still have to google the non-emergency Police department phone number. Call them, while keeping an eye on this person. “If you have an emergency dial 9-1-1. Damn, I do not think this constitutes as an immediate response situation, so I stay on the line. If you’d like to donate press 1, If you’d like to reach dispatch press 2. Please hold while someone…Oh My GAWD!!! just my luck. Finally get someone on the other line, I explain to them what’s going on, what this guy looks like and that I’m following him around trying to keep him from going into other people’s homes and back yards. I’m walking with him, keeping my distance. “Hey Don’t Go in There!!,  Hey, that’s not your home!!! Come Back Here!!! He’s being very compliant, I’m surprised. about fifteen minutes later, I see a black and white car. Finally, this nightmare is over. I wave them off as I see them about 100 yards away (hopefully they do not think I’m the crazy homeless person). As they get closer, this man cuts to the left, and starts running. OMG!! Running through people’s front yards, one cop car pulls up to me and ask if I called, Yes he took a left. He sped off around to try to cut him off. Another Black and White pulled around from the back. Ok, hopefully he didn’t get enough of a jump on them to get away. I start walking back towards my house. I think they got him, I turn the corner and yup, they have him on the floor sitting down Ind…Criss Cross Applesauce style. One officer is looking through the bushes, signalling to the other that he might’ve tossed something out while running. Other officer is trying to ask him all the same questions that I had asked him before. Neighbors start to come out. Looking, curious as to what happened. They see me near the cop car. I’m close enough for them to know that i’m involved but far away enough to not be intrusive with questioning. Cop signals me if I’m the one that called, I just nod in agreement. He comes up to me. Asking for my information. Asking if I’d like to press charges for him trespassing. I just say I want him out of the neighborhood. He takes my info and walks back. One neighbor calls me over, as another says thank you for calling it in. They ask what happened. I explain to him he was just walking around and took someone’s bike. Neighbor 1 says he saw him about 1hr ago wondering around. I’m like dude, really, you see him and know he is not from here and looks like he’s up to no good but you do nothing? That angers me. Neighbor 2 yells out from across, “Good thing he got taken away, I seen him walking for 45 mins.” I’m like ok.. sure, he’s gone. This is so stupid, it’s getting to me worse by the min. What if I didn’t take the day off? What if I wasn’t here? He would’ve just broken into my place maybe, or someone else’s ? He could’ve hurt someone? If he would’ve walked in to someone’s home, and someone was there, what would’ve happened? “HALP!! HALP HE’S HURTING ME!!!” I turn around and whats going on? It’s the homeless guy, he’s getting put into the back of the patrol car. But he doesn’t want to go in, he starts to freak out and start yelling. Everyone looks surprised and scared, are we going to see something go down right now? All eyes are on the cops, so most likely that won’t be the case. Surprisingly, nobody is recording, is it because of fear of the police saying something? or is everyone just so scared they do not think of it at the moment. It’s a good thing, I think once phones come out, cops are pressured to be more careful and people could end up getting hurt, especially them because they might hesitate to take someone down or use appropriate force and then getting blown out of proportion. He starts yelling in spanish “AYUDA!! (HELP) AYUDA!! AYUDA!!!, nobody even blinks and eye. Officers finally lift up his legs and push him in the car. It’s now finally over. I start walking back towards my home, walking up the steps. Feel a little better, time for breakfast. Go inside and guess what I saw!!! It was just my oatmeal that got cold 😛 . It’s ok, I prefer it this way, it was just a shame I took the time to boil water. Time for Breakfast, I still have a long day ahead of me.