Neighbothood Spy - Part 1

I've decided to begin a new column on my blog: Neighborhood Spy. I feel a little like a Desparate Housewife admitting this, but I LOVE to look out of our house's windows to watch what the rest of the neighborhood is doing. People are weird, and weird tends to be interesting. Since it's not as fun if I don't share this information -- and since Katie is probably tired of being the only one to hear my stories -- I'm going to post them here for the rest of the world to read.

I'm going to name this one "Finders-Keepers."

The other day I heard this strange, erratic beeping noise. With it's irregular pattern, I immediately ruled out the possibility of it being another one of those cars-that-would-never-in-a-million-years-need-a-car-alarm situations. My guess was that this was something much more serious, and I was right.

I peered out the window to find a man feverishly digging in the grass in an area just beside our parking lot. A few moments later he popped to his feet and re-engaged the lawn with his metel detector.

With such a device you would expect an old man in sweatpants or something. But no, this was an artsy looking twentysomething probably trying to find treasure to pay for college. He would wave what looked like a UFO fastened to the end of a stick over the ground, with the beeping sound intensifying until he located a precise location of an unearthed valuable.

(remember how choice a cleanly-removed pop can pull tab was in Jr. High? I recall dudes even making necklaces full of those. Maybe this guy might be as lucky to find one without needing the talent to remove it himself!)

After finding the exact point, he immediately flopped to his hands and knees, frantically digging with a little garden spade. He would eventually find the treasure, brush it off, and hold it carefully in the sunlight to examine its immense worth.

When I ran to grab the camera, he was gone.

The next day Katie walked into the room. "There's some guy digging holes in the grass outside," she exclaimed.

"He's back!" I shouted as a snagged the camera. And, as the picture bears witness, I photographed the Treasure Hunter on his way home from another secret and suspenseful day of finders-keepers.