07-13-2016, 07:06 AM
I lived with my husband and son in a home in secluded woods. We were about 15 years younger than now. Sunlight filtered through the pine trees which surrounded the house. No grass was in the yard, but instead dirt knotted with tree roots. The area was serene.
Then it was the middle of the night, and we were sleeping, when a family that we were not well acquainted with showed up on our doorstep around 3:30 am. We were not expecting them and were all in our nightclothes, which I apologized for, though not sure why as none was needed. They had just finished their camping trip in the woods and were returning home; why they decided to stop at our home in the middle of the night was unclear, and we were really annoyed but tried to be good hosts.
The parents seemed exhausted but rather zombie-like, letting the 2-3 young kids run wild. They literally ate everything in our refrigerator, leaving nothing for us. The kids were banging things into the walls and had no manners at all, yet the parents just sat there not seeming to care about their children's behavior. At one point the mother complained to me along the lines of how could I be so thoughtless as to have some sharp object in the house that might harm her kids, and I lost my temper.
I rather rudely told them to go, and when they just stared at me I said it louder, "GO NOW!" Still they just sat their with their mouths open and I began a tirade, launching into how they arrived unannounced at 3 in the morning, ate everything, had no manners, their kids (not to mention their parents) did not know how to say please or thank you, they were damaging the walls; "GO NOW!", and they left. I was rather shocked at my outburst, but hey, that's what lack of sleep and being on the receiving end of outrageous behavior can do to one.
I then went with my son to the lower level of the house to assess the damage. There were several casement windows that were open to the outside, and we proceeded to close them. There were also a few windows that had chutes leading up to them, with a mechanical device that would use a scoop to gather a chemical or mineral of sort from a pile and place it on a mechanized conveyor belt to dump it outside the window. The scoop had become unattached, and I reattached it so the machine would work properly. I recall the mineral or chemical was like a blue colored baking soda, with some clumps in it.
Then it was the middle of the night, and we were sleeping, when a family that we were not well acquainted with showed up on our doorstep around 3:30 am. We were not expecting them and were all in our nightclothes, which I apologized for, though not sure why as none was needed. They had just finished their camping trip in the woods and were returning home; why they decided to stop at our home in the middle of the night was unclear, and we were really annoyed but tried to be good hosts.
The parents seemed exhausted but rather zombie-like, letting the 2-3 young kids run wild. They literally ate everything in our refrigerator, leaving nothing for us. The kids were banging things into the walls and had no manners at all, yet the parents just sat there not seeming to care about their children's behavior. At one point the mother complained to me along the lines of how could I be so thoughtless as to have some sharp object in the house that might harm her kids, and I lost my temper.
I rather rudely told them to go, and when they just stared at me I said it louder, "GO NOW!" Still they just sat their with their mouths open and I began a tirade, launching into how they arrived unannounced at 3 in the morning, ate everything, had no manners, their kids (not to mention their parents) did not know how to say please or thank you, they were damaging the walls; "GO NOW!", and they left. I was rather shocked at my outburst, but hey, that's what lack of sleep and being on the receiving end of outrageous behavior can do to one.
I then went with my son to the lower level of the house to assess the damage. There were several casement windows that were open to the outside, and we proceeded to close them. There were also a few windows that had chutes leading up to them, with a mechanical device that would use a scoop to gather a chemical or mineral of sort from a pile and place it on a mechanized conveyor belt to dump it outside the window. The scoop had become unattached, and I reattached it so the machine would work properly. I recall the mineral or chemical was like a blue colored baking soda, with some clumps in it.