TheBanyanTree: Weird and sad

[Laura]

When I got up this morning, I had to have a shower.  I took my shower, put
on clean clothes, and let the dogs, who were fussing to get out, out.  Angel
RAN down the stairs into the grass and immediately started her poop
circles.  She must have *really* had a need.  Poor doggie.

As I stood there watching Angel do her thing, the lady (whose name I
shamefully can't remember) who lives diagonal from us on the dead-end street
came over and asked if I'd seen the lady, Linda, who lives in the house
right behind us.  I thought about it, and realized it had been at least a
week since I'd seen her come in or go out.  I told the young lady so.  She
said she was concerned, because they hadn't seen her recently either, and
neither had the neighbors on the other side.  She said she always tried to
keep track of whether or not Linda had put her trash out, and she hadn't.
Her mailbox was full, and the new phone books that were delivered in the
middle of last week were still sitting on her porch.  So the young lady had
already called the police to come and check it out.

Two police cruisers came within minutes, no lights, no sirens, no fuss.  One
of them took the young lady's statement while the other knocked on the door
and peered in the windows of the house.  I don't know what they saw, but
they stopped knocking, and both went to their cruisers and put on their blue
latex gloves.  I stopped watching, because I had other things to do, and
honestly, it felt a little creepy to be standing in the window watching all
this.

A little while later, I looked out to see only one police cruiser, and an
official SUV of some kind.  The officer and the person in the SUV were
conferring.

A few minutes later, another official vehicle appeared, a van with official
tags, but otherwise unmarked.

Next time I looked out, the SUV was gone and the van had pulled up directly
in front of the house.  I figured it was a locksmith truck, and they were
waiting for paperwork or something to allow them to break into the house.

Just now, as I was going into the kitchen to let the dogs out, I saw a
gurney with a body, sealed in a green plastic body bag, being rolled down
the drive, and loaded into the white van.

I'm so glad the young lady across the street was paying attention, and had
the moxy to go ahead and call the cops.  How long might Linda have lain
there before anyone else missed her?

Poor Linda.  I hope she didn't suffer.  I hope she didn't lie there in her
house, alone, in pain.  I hope it was quick, and that her soul was long gone
before she even knew she was dead.

-- 
Laura
wolfljsh at gmail.com
http://wolfsinger.wordpress.com