Strange Doings

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(The idiot upstairs beat his head against the wall again just now as I sat here wondering where to begin... lessee... Guess I'll begin with 'strange doings.')

First strange doing: When Kootch came home from her morning (whatever) around 11:30 (tap) today I let her in. Then, as I 'secured the door' (one each doorknob lock, five button combo lock, and (yet another 'headbang') one sliding bolt lock), I noticed that one of my old 'motion detectors' was hanging on the doorknob. Very strange. I haven't used one of those things for years, in fact, not since I installed the sliding bolt lock (stomp above me). Back in the pre-bolt days I used to hang it on the doorknob at night with the 'sling string' wrapped once around the knob stem. The idea was that any rotation of the knob would move the detector, triggering the alarm (which was an old inertial alarm from Radio Shack). The alarm was 3-function: flashlight, motion alarm, and switch-activated.

The 'sling string' was attached to a plastic piece which slid into the detector preventing an internal switch from making contact and setting off the alarm. Pulling the string pulled out the plastic insulator, causing the alarm to sound. I had duct-taped the switch on this particular alarm (another head bang) to prevent accidental alarms, leaving only the inertial motion detector active. I have two others which are not so-disabled. I haven't used any of them in years.

But here was this sucker hanging on the doorknob. The sling string was not wrapped around the knob stem. I asked Kootch whether she had hung it there. Kootch replied in the negative. I believed her. I still believe her.