[Part 3]

Right before I left Houston, I went to a Blue October show with Jay and his then-girlfriend. We couldn't find a parking spot very easily except in one place that was so great that parking there had to be illegal. I saw no signs marking it as illegal so I parked there - and preceded to worry throughout the entire show that my car had been towed.

When we got out of the show and walked to where my car was, I don't know if I'd ever been so happy to see my car just where I left it.

As excited and happy as I was, it did not remotely compare to how happy I was to see it just where I left it at 3:30 or so on Tuesday morning.

My worries had increased when I figured out where Quan had gotten the spare key: it was in the glove compartment. I'd meant to give it to Eel but just hadn't gotten around to it.

The police officer was repeatedly asking me if I'd locked my car. I told him that I didn't know for certain, but I thought that I had. Then I added, "If Quan got ahold of my key, then I guess I hadn't."

Quan emphatically stated that I had not locked my car. The police officer asked me again and I gave him the same answer.

There were two fears running through my mind:

1) My car had been stolen.

2) Worse, my car had been used in the commission of a crime.

So when we turned the corner and my car was there, I was thrilled. The officer asked me to look and see if anything was missing. The first thing I discovered was not was what missing, but what was added: in the front seat was a rigged wire clothes hanger.

When Quan emphatically denied having ever seen the hanger, the picture of what had happened became much more clear.

The officer took the hanger and asked me again to see if anything was missing. As I did so, they asked Quan to turn around and put his hands behind his back.

When I discovered that my CD binder and CD player faceplate were missing, I wasn't particularly surprised. The glove compartment looked kind of bare, but I didn't say anything because I had just cleaned the car and that might by why. Nor, considering the worst-case scenarios that were running through my mind, was I particularly upset.

"My car was broken in to?" I thought. "That's all this was about? Ha! I'm darn near used to this! It even... *sniff*... reminds me of home."

The officers looked in Quan's van for my stuff, but didn't find any. That's when they told me that a neighbor had called the police and said that there were two men looking in my car. By the time they arrived, they only found Quan. The assumption was that the other one had left with my valuables.

Quan was less than happy with me, sarcastically yelling as they put him in the police car, "Thanks a lot, man. It was unlocked!"

On the back hood, they put out the contents of his pockets which included about 8 knicknacks from my glove compartment. That made sense, I thought, since he'd gotten my keys.

That's when I freaked out and ran to the trunk. The officers asked me to please slow down. I guess they didn't like the idea of anyone moving quickly. I checked the trunk and breathed a sigh of relief: my $500 digital camera was still in there. I'd been thinking it was safe, but the fact that he'd gotten my keys made me realize that I wasn't.

I stayed out there for another hour or so while they sorted things out. It was cold and windy and I was freezing. They took a catalogue of things the things that were mine and gave me the documentation to get it back from the evidence room in a couple of days.

The cops eventually called it a day and I went back to my room so I could get at least a little sleep before having to go to work. Fat chance.

As I laid in bed, I counted myself lucky that they hadn't taken out the radio unit, worried that the other guy might be back for it, and curious as to whether or not they might enjoy my CD collection.

to be concluded...