You Be the Jury

Inklings post reminded me of something that happened some years ago. I was out front working in the yard when a policeman drove up. As he approached me I said, "Can I help you?". He said, "Is everything okay? We got a 911 call from this address." I said, "I didn't call." He said, "Well someone did, where are your kids?" I said, (thinking of my two younger ones) "They are next door playing with their friends." He said, "Well someone called from here." I said, "Let me see about my other two older kids that are in the house." My daughter was in her room listening to music, and wasn't even anywhere near our portable phone. My son was in his room playing a game and was totally absorbed, and also wasn't near a phone. I asked them both if they had called 911, and they both looked genuinely surprised and said no. If they were lying, they passed under the Mom radar, because they really seemed surprised. I told the officer that none of my kids said they had called, and that the phone wasn't anywhere near them. They were also older, and that just didn't seem like something they would find fun. I don't think he believed me, and he told me to teach the kids to not call 911 unless it is an emergency.

I know parents tend to think their children are angels, but that really isn't something that I think my kids would find entertaining. If my younger kids had been home, I might have thought it possible of them. But they were next door, and had been for quite awhile. I read somewhere that if someone goes out front of your house and uses a cordless phone, they can pick up on your phone frequency and possibly call 911 from there. There used to be a couple of girls in our neighborhood who would take their cordless phone and ride their bikes up and down the street to see if they could listen in on conversations. I saw them on their bikes one day, and I thought I heard some noise from their phone, so I don't know if it worked or not. I have also heard that sometimes the 911 isn't always accurate.

What do you think? Could someone else, using a cordless phone, have called 911 in front of my house? Do you think my kids did it? I think this is one of those things that might need to wait until my kids are parents before they will confess if they did do it. I have some other things I want to ask them about then too. :) The thing is, when I ask them about the other subjects, my kids show a hint of guilt. But when I asked about this incident, they just looked confused. Hopefully time will tell.....