My Home Town Part III

Just finished reading the local, weekly rag for my home town. Seems that "Gypsy Thieves" are back, taking advantage of the good folks there. I would have thought that the good ole days of open, unlocked doors and windows were long gone, but not in MHT. Seems residents still leave their houses open while they're in the backyard gardening or pooling or whatever it is they do back there. "Gypsy Thieves" have known about this for years and each year, about this time, they take advantage of it. Some poor woman is missing a $20,000 family heirloom. I'm sure there are equally tragic stories from years-worth of other victims. MHT tends to give visitors and residents alike a feeling of small town, security and ease. You don't see many cop cars patrolling which gives one a false sense of security. There just couldn't be any crime in my lovely, tastefully landscaped town! I grew up with this mentality, but in those days, it was reasonable and normal. There wasn't much crime in MHT. With a settled, well-grounded community of 7,000, we watched out for each other and knew who went to which church. Often, if a kid did something wrong, punishment dispensed by parents was far worse than anything a judge could impose, so that's how it worked. [Funny how "Leave it to Beaver" comes to mind. . .] Anyway . . . kids were able to go out to play in the morning and not return until dusk or when they got too hungry - whichever came first. No one worried much and we only got anxious when someone lost a shoe to the quicksand in a ravine or someone's dog wandered off. Yup, no leash law. Too few, slow moving cars and dogs knew better than to spend time on the railroad tracks. The vet came to our houses to vaccinate every pet [THERE'S another story in itself!] so rabies was non-existent. Our bicycles were licensed and inspected annually by the police and we had to pass a bicycle safety course. Helmets were unheard of then, but would have been a good idea for those of us who were reckless bikers. But then, you had to be to escape from the nasty, big poodle two blocks into your ride to the beach. Sorry -- I digress. The memories just start to floooooww. . . Back to the "Gypsy Thieves" . . . When Spring finally arrives in the North, the first impulse is to open up the house which has been hermetically sealed since the first cold snap in September. Storm windows come down and screens go up. Doors and windows are left open to catch the cross breezes, even if the temps are still only in the high 50s. The "Gypsy Thieves" know this and, unlike residents, don't forget it from year to year. The population in MHT has tripled and, apparently, not wised-up to the subtle ways of the "Gypsy Thieves." Another example of more dollars than sense.