bella does a lot of house and pet sitting these days. this summer she spent more nights sleeping in other people's homes than she did in ours. and their homes have pools, multimedia systems and lavish bathrooms which is a bit of a bonus, particularly when you are being paid to be there. through this work and her other pursuits, she has become a competent manager of her time and juggling multiple responsibilities, but occasionally she finds herself double-booked. when this happens she often out-sources dog-walks and garden-watering to her brothers, who are thankful for the fall-in-their-lap work.

Recently, she had a school conflict and couldn't cover the first visit to a new customer. i overheard her talking anthony through the job. as i listened to the lengthy instructions i stepped into the conversation. i told bella that given the house was a few miles away and had an alarm system and that she hasn't been there yet, i didn't think it was wise to send a twelve-year old solo. so he could still cover the shift, i offered to drive him over and be there in case anything happened. all agreed to this revision and bella wrote up a lengthy instruction sheet for us.

when the day and time arrived, anthony and i drove to the house. about a mile out something happened in the area, and the police had all of the roads shut down. being close enough, we found a parking spot and walked the last bit. after finding the street, i looked for the house number. walking beside me, anthony read through the instruction sheet of what we had to do when we got there. once i found the house, we walked onto the porch. i asked anthony to find the alarm code so he could enter it as soon as i opened the door. with the four-digit code at the ready, i turned the key. 

now a quick aside. bella had talked this house up. she said that it was a super fancy house and this old couple was maniacally meticulous about everything, especially their aging dog. because of her glowing account, i was eager to get a look at this well-appointed home. 

as soon as i pushed the door open, i was hit with a dense waft of chinese food. this gave me pause as my mind processed why there would be food cooking. i looked at the space. directly in front of me was a staircase. to my right was a dining room. to the left was a living room. as i looked in the living room, an elderly chinese lady sitting on the floor with a baby in her lap was staring at me. 

LADY (in strained english)
who are you? what are you doing?

TROY
we're the house sitters. we're here to let the dog out. why are you here? no one is supposed to be here. 

LADY
this is my daughter's house. i'm supposed to be here. you are not. 

she came to the door with the baby in arm and blocked us from entering. she is continuing to talk at me telling me that they don't have house-sitters and there is no dog there. through all of this, i am trying to understand the moment. did this woman break into the house after the people left? is she a squatter? as she continued challenging me, i looked at the place. it was a mess. it was far from meticulous, and the furniture and appointments were cheap. it was here i realized that we might be at the wrong house. 

just as i came to this conclusion, the old lady stopped talking, and we both simultaneously looked at the key in the door's deadbolt. i raised my hand and turned it, visibly opening the bolt and then turning it the other way, closing it. the woman pointed at the lock, "why do you have a key to my daughter's house?" i was wondering the same thing but was now reasonably convinced that we were at the wrong address. i should note that poor anthony was standing beside me, his wide eyes swiveling on the verbal sparring match.

in defense, i held up the paper showing the instructions we had and said that we must have made a mistake. i stepped back and tried to see the street sign a few doors down. at seeing this, the lady had an epiphany and told us to wait while she got her phone because she was going to take a picture of that paper. when she walked away, i told anthony to see what street we were on (as my old eyes couldn't make it out in the distance). the name he came back with did not match the name on the paper. we were on the wrong street. the moment we realized this, the lady was back with the baby in one arm and a phone in the other. i explained that we were on the wrong street.

i let her take a picture of the paper. i pointed at the street on paper to prove we were in the wrong spot. this did little to explain us having a working key to her door. there was no explaining that bit of bad and curious luck, so i was looking to quickly extricate anthony and myself from that porch. as we backed away, she held up her hand and told us to stop, that she wanted to take our picture. willing to do anything to get out of there, i said sure and put my arm around anthony. we posed just like we would for any family photo, fake smiles and all. after she snapped the picture, i kept my arm around anthony guiding our exit. this commotion on the porch caused a dog inside to start barking. the woman, now muttering to herself worked her way back into the house and slammed the door. as anthony and i reached the sidewalk, i stopped our walking. anthony looked up at me. 

TROY
did you just hear a dog barking in there a second ago? 

ANTHONY (turning back to look at the house)
yes. a dog did start barking.

TROY
didn't she say that there was no dog there? 

ANTHONY 
yes. she did say that. 

i turned to look back at the house, momentarily convinced that that might have been the right house after all and just got duped. anthony and i then exchanged spooked looks but shook them off. we pulled up a map on the phone and saw we were off by one street. we went to the right street, found the house number and let ourselves into the correct house, with the same key, and let the dog out, without further issue.  

now that should be the end of the story, but two days later bella locked herself out of that house. she was getting ready to leave and loading her car. when she walked into the garage, the door closed (and locked) behind her. 

when bella called me, i told her to sit tight, and i'd bring anthony over. if you are wondering why i would tell my locked out daughter to sit tight while i get her twelve-year-old brother it is because anthony is a reasonably skilled lock-picker. i thought we should let him try first. after examining it, and he learned that the lock was of a particular variety (mushroom pins) and he didn't have the right tools to open it. 

option two was our chinese friends. they were not home. this was probably for the best.

i told bella her last option before calling the family and telling them they were going to return early from their trip was to call a locksmith. i said it was a long-shot of sorts because they technically should not let her into a house she could not show identification for. desperate to not have to soil the family's trip bella said she would try. anthony and i left her to sort it out, figuring that it might be more suspicious if we were hanging around. bella called an hour later to say she got in. a little surprised i asked her how. she casually said she wasn't sure. the guy who showed up was a young fella, and they got talking. before she knew it the door was open. she then added that at some point he did ask if she had a boyfriend or would be interested in going out for a date. i asked if he asked her that before or after the door was open. she honestly couldn't remember. i know where my guess would land. 

now a good thing to come from all of this unexpected drama, in addition to having another memorable moment for the dearmitt family scrapbook, is now when bella takes on house-sitting jobs, she asks the family for an extra set of keys, just in case something happens, to the first set. this serves as living proof of one of my favorite life missives--good decisions come from experience and experience comes from bad decisions. maybe that is an old chinese proverb. perhaps i should go ask my new friend one street over.