This just happened.

Let me preface this with...I LOVE my neighborhood. I love that I can get to work in twenty minutes, even WITH a transfer from a bus to the el. I love the fact that my rent for a two bedroom apartment with parking is super affordable. I my proximity to BYOB restaurants, sports bars, and dive bars. I am very happy where I am.

However...it is not the safest neighborhood. Well, it's fine, but I am in close proximity to neighborhoods with sufficiently higher crime rates. There are pockets of gang activity. The sounds of gun shots aren't foreign to me. The delinquents from the high school that is half a block away smoke weed daily on my porch. I am okay with that.

Tonight, however, I got a little nervous. I heard the repeated sound of a popping from the alley. It being a lovely spring evening, we had our windows down and could hear all of the evening's activity. Oxford, being the rather curious kitty he is, was sitting in the window, watching what was going on. I noticed two teenagers shooting a gun down the alley. Based on the sound, I figured it was a pellet gun, but still, I quickly pulled Oxford out of the window and shut the window. The kids noticed me shutting the window and smirked.

I was so annoyed with the delinquent smirk that I marched back into the living room and said to P.I.C., "I'm calling 311. This is RIDICULOUS."

P.I.C. sensibly retorted, "Do you really want to do that when they JUST SAW YOU?"

Fair point, P.I.C. So I didn't. I walked back to peek on the situation and THERE WERE SIX COPS OUT THERE. For real. The two delinquents? In cuffs. Trying to get out of it.

Awesome. Shit got real right behind my house. I didn't even have to neighborhood watch it. Honestly, I still love my 'hood. I really have been a nosy neighbor my entire life. Now I get to BE the nosy neighbor. But not really. (I have never called the cops.)

P.S. When did cops get so young? These cops were like TWENTY. And cute. All the single laaaaadies? Wanna party in my alley?