Woe

I slept lightly because I was thinking of sewing and childbirth. But Joe and I were up well before dawn, since he had to leave for work extra early this morning. Then he came back -- he had a flat tire, he said, and was taking my car.

I went out with a bad feeling and noticed that he actually had two flat tires. Very, very flat tires.

He rushed to get things together for work and I said I'd take a closer look and maybe call the police, since two tires don't usually go flat by themselves.

Then Joe noticed that our neighbor up the street had flat tires, too, and said that yeah, I had probably better call the police.

All in all, three houses on our street got hit. The tires have been stabbed. One of Joe's was stabbed something like ten times, which I find especially depressing for some reason. The police came out and took pictures.

I don't know why they left my car alone, but I'm glad they did, since the baby is due to come anytime. I'm not quite sure how they decided on the number of tires to flatten on each vehicle or the exact cars to hit at each house, but I don't think the houses they hit were chosen at random.

I think someone may be retaliating against us for something we didn't do. And I don't know if they're going to stop, or if there's much we can do about it.

But, nice things:

• A woman across the street came out of her house this morning and asked what was going on when she saw the police cars. She was horrified on our behalf, even though I don't know her very well, which kind of reassured me.
• The folk at the other houses that were hit are great, as I knew already. Men at both houses offered to lend me their air compressors, and then when it became clear the tires were damaged, one of them offered to jack up Joe's car and help with the repairs. I think Joe and I will probably take care of it ourselves this evening (well, mostly Joe with me watching, most likely), but the offer was a really nice one.

I still get along great with most of the neighbors. But I know now that it doesn't always matter how I get along with most of the neighbors, since one person with a vendetta (or maybe a few) can do a lot of damage.

Getting my exercise

I walked all the way to the library today, about a mile away, and back again. It was the first time in a while I took a walk so long -- but Joe is away, and I had some free time in the cool of evening. So I went out, pretty aware of my very pregnant walk. I have had a few people claim it is actually a waddle, but I'm not so sure...

Walking around the neighborhood in the evening is stressful because so many people are out, and so many of them are strangers. And I am not always sure whether I should make eye contact, smile, or just walk past. I hope people don't think I'm unfriendly sometimes! I get confused when I pass groups of people especially, and I am not sure if they are talking to me or each other.

Now that I have a big fat baby belly, though, people are less likely to ignore me as I pass. I didn't hear the girl on the playground the first time she said "Hello," though, so she tried "Hola!" So I turned around and said "Hi!" and then she asked if I speak English, which I don't get asked too often. But we had a nice time chatting about how we don't know the baby's gender yet and we have about a month until its due date. I think the girl was maybe in middle school.

I used to want a dog just to start conversations with people in the neighborhood. It's taken a little while, but I think it's pretty neat to have an even nicer conversation piece. I suppose people will be even more interested once the baby's born!