We've Been Hit

This is a crappy way to start a Sunday:

The telephone rings - caller ID says Private Call.

"Can I speak to Erin?"

"Erin?"

"Yes. This is Officer --- from the Auburn Police"

"Erin is my 4 yr old daughter"

"Oh. I have a receipt that was found that was tracked to her. There have been a rash of car robberies. Can you check your cars to see if anything is missing, then can me back?"

We check all 3 cars (Grandma is in town this weekend). Marie's IPod is gone. The portable DVD player is gone. DVD's and CD's from all 3 cars are gone. Tomorrow we will call the pawn shops in the area with the list of things we had taken from us, but we assume they are gone for good.

Other than a small keying mark on grandma's car, no damage is found. Yes it could have been much worse, but it still sucks. Up till last night, we locked our car doors about half of the time. Now, we will be locking every time we get out of the car. We have had to explain to the girls including the 4 yr old, why people are bad and take things that do not belong to them.

Apparently they are investigating about 200 cars (yes 200) in the general area that have had things taken out of them over the past few days. We are not the only ones, but that doesn't make us feel any better. Probably kids taking what they could sell easily. I guess even Maine is not "the way it should be" anymore.