I had just returned from the library with books on persian cats (had just got a new kitten). When I drove up to the house, I noticed police cars at a house a few houses from ours. I thought that the no good son of the neighbor was probably in trouble. I was sitting on the floor with the front door open checking out the books, when suddenly a man was standing there. He stood outside the screen door and said, "I need to come in and use your phone. Is your husband home?" I told him, "I'll call for you" and quickly closed and locked the front door. He opened the screen door and tried to open the front door. I heard the side gate open and close as he went through trying to find a way into the house. I was lying on the floor of my brothers' bedroom which faced the street dialing 911 when I heard the shrubs moving against the windows as he tried to look through the windows. I have never been so scared in my life. I was shaking, holding the phone and hyperventilating, hoping and praying that he wouldn't see me on the floor. The dispatcher stayed with me saying, "they are about to turn on your street". I heard the roar of the big engines in the cop cars as they raced to our house. After what seemed like an eternity, I worked up my courage to get up and peek out the window. The cops had the guy on the ground cuffed up.
It turned out that the cops had been at the neighbors house, because the neighbor found the man in her house cutting up a sheet. She asked her son what he was doing, when he turned and faced her, she realized he was not her son. She ran out into the street and forgot all her English. Apparently she yelled for help in Japanese or something. That bad guy was not tearing up her sheets to polish her silverware. The floor plan to her house was identical to our house. It turned out the bad guy lived in our neighborhood a few streets over.
It is a really scary thing when a bad guy is trying to get in your house and he knows that you are in there, and he tries all the doors and windows trying to find a way into the house. If I hadn't looked up when I did, the man would have been in the house. Pretty sad when you can't have your doors open.