The car was Service due
Sye the mechanic picked it up
I drop it later. he said with a thumbs up
Mrs and I were indoors, the now pensive Mrs
suddenly a loud bang at the front door
the dogs jumped I jumped, the Mrs jumped
I' in the hall way in a jiffy, the Mrs behind, the dogs barking
there stood Tom senior, the burgling thief from next door
he was frozen in shock, the car wasn't there,
he expected an empty house
I expected nothing but got a frozen thief in my hallway
people I confess, yes I confess - I am too cool
any other man would deck this scrawny reprobate right there and then
more so as he reeked of ***** and was now in rigor mortis
what the hell, you just broke into our flat, I said calmly
we stood staring at each other, the Mrs looked aghast
the dogs were at the thief's heels sniffing his ***** stinking trainers
growling
I made the biggest mistake of my life
I felt sorry for this grade one uber loser
there he was, *****, alcoholic, no job, in and out of jail
dysfunctional family, dysfunctional life, trash going nowhere fast
now reduced to burgling neighbours right next door
neighbours he and his wife had countlessly borrowed money from
we had even given them food, bread, sausages, milk, sugar
all this made no difference to this frozen man here
After what seemed like an eternity but was a minute or so
Our Burglar muttered, I'm sorry, The door just flew open
why don't I just deck this thing and call the cops
No, let him go, they have enough on their plate as it is
I'm calling the Police the Mrs said
Just go, I said to the door kicking thief, No don't call the Police
I said to the Mrs, they are not worth the palaver
BIG BIG MISTAKE...please people never make this mistake
the stink ambled out, the dogs looked at me inquiringly
the Mrs shook her pretty head, I think we should call the Police
my head kept on repeating ' Laissez-faire' and give the man a break
I was being stupid, very stupid
a war had been declared though unknown to me
this incident was a shot across the bow
a blatant attempt at intimidation
I did not see the lay of the land
I was later to learn that to Bobby and his gangsters
this merely indicated cowardice or I had something to hide
they ratcheted things up, they were now ready for the invasion
I was reading The Guardian and worrying about my wife
Totally unaware a Teutonic shift had begun.......