Lynn, Beth, Jill and I lived in a small townhouse apartment while I was in graduate school at College Park. It was part of a large complex in which the layout of all the units was the same. The development was bordered on three sides by woods.
At one point during our time there, a man began entering the units. His operation was the same each night: jimmy open the door, cut the lock chain through the small opening, open the door. Creep upstairs, hold the couple inside at gunpoint. Use the venetian blind cord to bind up the man and then rape the woman. Escape.
My friend a few semesters ahead of me in his studies also lived in these same units. He was an ex-Marine and was surprised to find that I had no weapons. He took me to a local Sears and we bought a nine-shot revolver and a shotgun. We practiced with them a little bit.
I had read several times that guns in the house are always a danger and that people can mistake a late night snacker for an intruder and hurt or kill them by accident. Our bedroom was at the top of the stairs so I could quickly get a good line of sight to the front door. I didn’t want the pistol anywhere the girls might fool with it but I mounted the shotgun on supporting racks over the bed. I kept it loaded but warned the girls to stay away from it. It was up on the wall in our room and was not a temptation to them. I bought some large bells and hung them on the door inside the house. I felt better.
Lynn wanted to visit her parents in Florida and took the girls there. I was home alone one night when I heard a ruckus at the door. It was actually open but the restraint chain was in place while a male voice cussed loudly and demanded to be let in. I was quite riled up and walked down the stairs with the loaded shotgun at the ready. I realized something was quite amiss and the criminal never announced his presence. My friend had warned me that the gun would take out the door and anyone near it. I remembered the high probability that an inexperienced person with a gun is open to all sorts of life-ruining errors. I kept shouting back that I would not open the door and that the man should go away. Eventually, he did. I wondered what that was all about and went to bed.
The next morning, I was ready to go off to campus but I couldn’t find my keys. I searched all over very perplexed. I had gotten in the night before so they must be in the house. Then I remembered the strange visit. I realized that if I had left the keys in the door, the man would have been able to open the door but the chain would stop him. Why would a man come to my door, close enough to see the keys? Why would he try to come in? Why would he be angry when he couldn’t get in?
We had had a couple of occasions when people had come to our door by mistake, having gotten confused about which unit was where. I thought I wonder if the man meant to gain entry into his own house but was blocked out by a chain. That would make him mad. I went to the corresponding unit in the next section and explained my idea. Nope. They knew nothing about anything like I described.
I was in a pickle without those keys. They included keys to a major campus building and a calculation lab inside with valuable equipment. I phoned security and told them about the problem. They were not happy but said they would begin the process of changing lock patterns, etc. I had an alternate key for the front door and the car and went to campus.
That evening, a husky young man came to my door and returned the missing keys. His father, somewhat inebriated, had come to his house in the night but come to my door by mistake. The two men worked together at the same place where the father “returned” his son’s keys then next day, with a grumble about not being welcome at his house.
We later heard that the intruder/rapist was caught. He lived in the woods in a poor state and was wearing ten t-shirts on top each other when captured. I have kept the guns and acquired my grandfather’s shotgun at his death, too. I don’t keep any ammo in the house but am counting on a warning from bad guys that I need to buzz over to the store for some before they come.
