The Last Burglary we committed. By Jeffrey Dillavou
We had planned it for a while. Actually, for the last couple of days Ben had checked the house every night. Every day he would update us on the status of the owners and the possibility of getting into the house and taking what we wanted. He described the floor plan, how the owners would sleep up stairs and would not be able to hear us enter the house or make our way around the downstairs. He described how the pet door was big enough that we could easily slip through it. Ben had not actually gone into the house but by peering thru the widows at night, he had gathered patterns and times.
The lady of the house would leave the downstairs to go up to shower before going down for the night. How the man would finish his cigarette and go up to join her in bed. It was like clockwork, the same thing night after night. The big dumb dog would soon follow them upstairs as well, only to climb onto the foot of their warm bed. They had everything, warm place to sleep, all the finest food, and so much junk in the house no one could ever need that many possessions. We knew what we sought and we planned to take only what we needed to. Most others, who did what we do, failed because they took more than they needed. Greed was the fall of even the great ones of the past. We had all decided that would not become our down fall.
It was a cooler night; fall was upon us now, which made our lives more difficult. We had arranged to meet in the park down the street from our soon to be victims house. It was well wooded with thick bushes around the edge blocking the view from the street preventing anybody passing by from seeing our presence. Julia and I came into the park from the west side and headed to the bench. The gray squirrel cursed at us as we passed and then scurried into the oak tree. We went to the green wooden bench, and sat close to each other for warmth, as we were just friends and had been for almost all of our lives. She had four small ones from this bastard that left her soon after. She was a good mother but like all of us – times had been hard. Two years ago, none of would have believed we would be doing what we do now on a regular basis just to survive. Ben, Julia and I had worked together on about eight jobs now. All jobs were uncomplicated, no contact with the occupants. No outside intervention. No problems. Just get in, get the stuff and get out. We always checked out the houses first. Ben had become quite the peeping tom. He would make a mental map and describe it to Julia and I so well it would seem like we lived there before we had ever entered. Julia gave me a nervous smile, and I nudged her, and smiled back to reassure her it would be ok. Julia disliked what we did the most. She feared being caught or worst killed one day and then what would happen to her children? I too, had my fears but I never let on as I knew Julia depended on my strength to be able to pull the jobs off and not run away.
Ben was a little crazy; sometimes he would take too many chances. He had done some snatch and run jobs on his own. He would wait for a victim in this same small park. The dope would set down a bag on bench. Quickly he would approach from behind seize it and run like hell. Ben was fast and he never got caught but his rewards were never had enough to make it worth the chances he took… we started think he was doing it for just the thrill, and working in the day was not smart but Julia and I knew talking to him was worthless.
Ben strolled into the park, he was smooth, he looked like he own the park as he approached where we sat. He stood in front of us and went over the lay out one more time as Julia and I mapped out our course into the house and routed the path to our loot. Once we all agreed on the whole thing, we headed to the alley and down to the house…
We were ready; I gave Julia an encouraging smile from my masked face. I saw how cute she was with her thin nose and the black mask, I thought after this job I should find another way for her, she should not be doing this. This was Bens and my world.
Ben was correct the doggy door was hung loosely and was big enough two of us could have squeezed thru at the same time. Leaving windows open, doggy doors, and even doors left ajar... People’s stupidity was our opportunity. Ben climbed in and went to the doorway to the kitchen to the living room. He looked up the stairs. No light. No sounds but dull muffled voices from the television in the bedroom. He gave us the optimistic wave to also enter. Ben was to keep an eye on the stairs and let us know of any sign of being discovered. Julia and I went to work. Ben had described the location of everything so well; we quickly went to our prearranged locations and started to acquire what we wanted.
As I opened the next cabinet door, I looked back to Ben… Ben…Ben… Son of a Bitch… where was Ben? Suddenly, there was a crash in the living room. Ben had left his post and gone to the bookcase in the next room, and knocked off a lamp which went crashing to the floor. A light for the top of the stairs was turned on. I turned quickly to Julia and told her to leave now. “What about Ben?” – I said “Let me get Ben – you get out now”. She grabbed her bag, and then one sound we did not want to hear, the bark from a dog. I was a deep mean growling bark. I yelled at Ben to get out. He was still across the room. I looked up to see the Hound from Hell, barking and growling as his claws slipped on the hard wood floor trying to reach us. I yelled at Ben again to run. He reached back to grab something from a drawer, as I saw the black dog reach the first landing before the turn into the living room. Ben then turned to run; I twisted to see behind me. I was only about twelve feet in front of him as we headed for the door. I looked back to see into Bens eyes, which were so large at this time I could barely tell where his eyes began and the masks around them ended. He dove for the kitchen; I was three feet from my escape. The dog jumped at Ben striking him mid-section grabbing tight. They hit the floor the dog shook his head in furry, blood splattered not but feet from me. I screamed for Ben. In his pain the most he could do is wave me on. I knew I could do nothing at this point. I scrambled out and ran with my small bag towards the park.
I never slowed until I reached the bushes at the park where I just sat down behind a big tree. Out of breath, my eyes had watery with tears, as I heard a crunch in the fallen leaves. It was Julia, thank god. I quickly wiped my tears from my eyes not show my sadness to Julia. She asked, “Where is Ben?” “He is going to meet up with us here like we agreed right?” I quickly turned and grabbed my bag and opened up – “Hey... look what I got, Pretty good, huh?” Julia asked again “Ben?” He was getting to greedy and putting us at danger. I had to tell him, that he was putting us all at risk. He then told me that” it was ok, we were just slowing him down and we were not taking the chances necessary to get the “really good stuff”. I lied to her more, about how he had no hard feelings but he had to move on. He said he would visit soon, someday and bring us the good stuff he could get. I told her it was something he needed to do but we all were cool. I told her what she needed to hear… I lied! I asked if I could walk her home. We head to the alley two streets east away from our crime scene.
On the way home I told Julia how I thought we should move away from this city. Some place- maybe out to the country. I should able to provide enough for us without burglarizing homes to survive. I walked closer to Julia not just to stay warm, not out of fear, but I thought about her and her children. How we could have a home in the country and the children could play in fields and streams. I thought about being with her. I liked that feeling.
We reached the end of the street, Julia turned to me and said she would ask the kids what they thought but she was pretty sure they would like to see me a little more than they do now and she would too. She started to turn and I grabbed her, I said “here have my bag too… you and the kids need it more than I do, I’ll get by!” - She smiled at me again took the bag of food, and climbed back into the sewer opening with both hers and my bag of food we had taken. She had made a home inside that dirty pipe. I knew that for us, raccoons, the city had moved in around us and we had to do what we had to do, but this was not where or how we ever wanted it. Raccoons belong in the country, and the country was where those kids were going to be raised, not a sewer. Julia and I would raise them there together as raccoons do.
