The Enforcer

Kids in our neighborhood play in the alley a lot. This play extends to neighbors' yards, and I find their sense of geography quite interesting. When I was a kid, we played in the farm field behind our backyard and traipsed throughout the neighborhood, but we never cut through yards, especially fenced ones. Maybe it's city living that gives these kids the agency to run through whatever yard they like.

I've seen them cut through our yard. I don't mind this as long as they close the gates behind them. I HATE open gates. Yes, this is most likely part of my OCD complex; for example, slightly ajar cabinet doors and partially open utensil drawers drive me absolutely bonkers and has been a point of contention between me and Porkchop.

So, kids running through the yard...no big deal as long as they are polite and close the gates behind them. It's a simple request.

As I was making dinner last night, I saw two of the kids standing at our gate, obviously waiting for someone who was chasing them. They opened the gate and took a couple of steps into the yard. I was waiting at the window, about to yell out "shut the gate!" when they retreated back through the gate, shutting it.

Good!

But, one of the kids stuck around and started to CLIMB the gate in an attempt to scale the garage!

So, I instead yelled out, "what are you doing?!" And the kid froze. I don't know if he could see me, or if I was a disembodied voice (the voice of reason, too).

Then I said, "I don't think you want to climb up that." The kid eeked out, "no..." and then scurried off to the neighbors' garage and tried his luck at climbing that building.

Kids!