Neighbors

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When we moved into our house, we were really blown away by our close-knit community of neighbors. It became clear that everyone was watching out for each other, in an active, yet non-intrusive manner.

Many of our neighbors have lived on this block for decades, and have fond memories of growing up on the street.

Our across-the-street neighbor Craig is currently home with a serious hip injury. He's very close with all the long-time residents of our block. He's the one who brings food to our elderly neighbors, helps them with their shopping, and generally makes sure that everyone is doing all right.

Today was a rough day on our block. Craig hadn't heard from Mrs. Bohannan, his elderly next door neighbor, for over a day. She's like a mother to Craig, and when he realized that her out-of-state relatives also hadn't heard from her, and when she didn't answer her door, he called the police. The police knocked on all her doors, as did Craig. Finally, Craig heard her calling through her bathroom window and asked the police to break down her door. Mrs. Bohannan had fallen in the bathroom and had injured herself and couldn't move. She was taken by ambulance to Kaiser Hospital and is staying there overnight. I've asked Craig to let us know how we can help out.

Not long after the police and firemen and paramedics had left, one of our other neighbors from a few blocks away was walking her dog on our block. For some horrible reason, the dogs that live a few houses down went crazy, knocked down their fence and attacked the woman and her dog.

Robb was home and heard, rather than saw all this. He said he heard barking and terrible wailing, and couldn't even tell if the sounds were all dog or if there was a human voice in the cries. Robb said that the neighborhood dogs all went crazy with barking and any that could went running down the street, looking back and forth among each other with a "What's going on? What's going on?" look on their faces. It was bedlam.

Neither Craig nor Robb were able to run out to help, but Craig grabbed a shovel and sent one of the men who have been working on his house out to subdue the dogs. The man slammed each dog on the bridge of the nose, and they released their grips. The dogs had been dragging both the woman and her dog across the lawn, and had literally torn the flesh from our neighbor's arm. These were pit bull terriers, so you know how massive and powerful their jaws must have been.

Craig said that the dogs released their victims, but that the damage was severe. "I never want to see anything like that for the rest of my life," he said. Not an hour after they left, the police and paramedics were back on our block.

We're not sure of the name of this neighbor. Craig knows her on sight, from community meetings. We're not sure where she is tonight. (The dogs were taken off by Animal Control.)

When things had calmed down a little, the police told Craig that he helped save two lives today. It's good to have neighbors like this.

Comments

Gothknits said…
Wow! That's a great neighborhood to be in. You're so lucky. The people in mine tend to be more nosy then helpful. I hope everyone recovers soon.
Christine said…
Oh, dear! I'm sending warm thoughts towards your 'hood.
wassamatta_u said…
My hat's off to Neighbor Craig. Actually, I don't wear a hat, but that sounds better than "my receding hairline's off to Craig".

It's great to know that such wonderful people as you and Robb are surrounded by other wonderful people!
Jody said…
OMG that's horrible. I am glad that any dogs with Pitbull in them are banned in this province!
Craig sounds like the kind of neighbor we wish we had, and wish we could be.
The problem is not with the dog, pit bull or otherwise, any dog can be made into a monster, there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. I have known many pit bulls who were as gentle and loving as any other breed.
Eliza said…
Unbelievable! But I'm so glad to hear of a neighborhood where someone would notice if a woman didn't come out of her house for a single day and where weird sounds and cries for help don't get ignored. Tell Craig thanks from someone he doesn't know. I hope both your injured neighbors recover.
Anonymous said…
Sounds to me like the neighborhood should pitch in and get him a gift card for the holidays! At the least make him a big fake key to "the neighborhood" and present it to him with a pie or something! Lucky you have such a good neighbor around!
Annalisa
Lisa/knitnzu said…
Yikes! Glad Robb and Craig could both help. Scary situations both!
Anonymous said…
What a story! So fortunate to have good and observant neighbors! I am lucky to have that too.
Thank you for your comments on my knitting! karen
Natasha said…
Wow - you're in a great neighbourhood. In our building, we're lucky if people hold the elevator for each other, but I'm determined to change that! ;)
Karen Anne said…
Three lives.

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