BAM BAM BAM

Ok. Today I am experiencing

Mittelschmerz

not so good but I'll try to convey the events of the sounds implied in the title of this post.
I heard a noise outside... then a knock at the door. We have a locked gate between our front door and the sidewalk so I assumed it was a knowledgeable neighbor or friend.. someone who knows the secret entrance. I threw on a coat since I was half dresssed and ran downstairs. As I was descending the stairs I heard a BAM BAM BAM using the knocker on the door... and I suspected something was wrong.

I glanced out the curtain of the door and I saw a cleancut young man in a suit and I said "just a minute..." I opened the door and there was a man standing in a defensive posture with a badge in his hand... jutting it into my face. "FEDERAL MARSHALL" he said. There was another young man in a suit standing at the top of the stairs... his back up, I guess.

I thought... "oh shit. Did we not pay a parking ticket? What the fu.....???" And he asked if "Lynn Hen......'" lived at this address. I said "no." "Lynn H.... hasn't lived in this house for more than five years but that occassionaly we'll still receive mail addressed to this person... that one of the reasons we have a locked gate is that the house was a half way house when we purchased it."
"OH, he said..." He hasn't changed that, even." And then he said "Thank you, Mam" and they turned to leave. I asked if I could unlock the gate for them so they wouldn't have to crawl over the fence or climb through the bushes... and they asked if I was sure I didn't want them to stay ... since I need to have a locked gate, etc. (ha, ha)

Its funny. It was this brief interlude in an otherwise ordinary day... still... I walked upstairs and my heart was pounding. I realized they didn't look as much like marshalls as they looked like actors playing federal marshalls... that they must have learned everything they know from watching "Law and Order..." I told Mr. dd the story and he also had a good laugh.

I am amazed. I have a locked gate and I STILL have strange people and things arriving at my door! Karma, I guess.