(For those I haven't had the chance to tell, or those I told the story to this weekend at the party who might have missed parts due to noise and/or distraction, here's the scoop...)

First, some set-up material. One of the symptoms of my "mental issues" is being borderline-OCD, making me very prone to a "packrat" mentality while at the same time generally being very aware of where things are, how they are arranged, etc. Additionally, in my apartment there is only one room that remains closed off– this is the room I keep my modeling kits and materials in, so that I can keep my cats from getting into them and getting fur all over the place, and so on. Very touchy about that room in particular, and the rest of my stuff in general.

So Wednesday I get home from work pretty late, and the first thing I notice is that the door to my modeling room is open. En route to check this out, I also note that a small stack of CDs sitting by the foot of my computer desk are knocked over (these being CDs awaiting their turn through the ripper). After closing the door, I happened to look in the main bedroom (where I actually sleep). I had written off the open door as my having not pulled it completely shut the last time I was in there, and the heat must have popped it open. But there on my bed was a magazine that I knew had not been on the bed when I left that morning.

Now I was pissed. Someone had been in the apartment. My first thought was that the landlady had someone doing maintenance. But she never has people in without calling first, generally several days ahead of time (barring a plumbing emergency or something like that). I went all over the house, but didn't find anything missing. I'm messy– there are stacks of CDs, DVDs, magazines and books everywhere. But I also have a strong sense for what is where, and I was pretty much certain that nothing was gone. So I wrote it off to the landlady having forgotten to call. I planned to call her the next day and ask about it.

Well, I got too busy on Thursday to call her. I didn't leave work until just enough time to get to the local hobby shop that I meet friends at every Thursday (we gather just before closing, and when they kick us out we go have a late dinner). So I didn't get home until about 11.

The door was open again, the same CDs were knocked over. And I was all the more pissed. What's more, this time something was missing: the little cup I kept quarters for laundry in. Along with the quarters (only about $6 or $7 total value, but it's the principal of it, after all).

When my next-door neighbor got home a little later, I went over and chatted a bit. She hadn't seen anyone come or go, and was just as certain as I was that if the landlady were sending someone in for maintenance, I'd have been called first. Then she told me that some of the kids now home for the summer were climbing around and walking around on our building's roof. About this time it dawns on me that I don't have the door on my patio latched. So I checked, and sure enough, the screen door is still open about 6 inches. I notice this because (a) I'm anal-retentive (see about regarding OCD) and (b) I like to open the door when it's hot, but am always sure to keep the screen shut so bugs don't fly in. I latch the glass door, and I attach a post-it note, facing outwards, that reads: "Next time, I call the police." And I actually thought that that would be the end of the story.

Well, Friday night I get home pretty late after a model club meeting. But as I am starting up the stairs, my next-door neighbor also gets home and calls out to me. She asks if I know anything about an Oklahoma college class ring. Seems that a local kid had been showing off such a ring a day or two earlier. Now I am livid. I promise to check, since she thought the year was in the mid-90's, and I had graduated in 1990. I check, and my ring is in fact where it belongs. So I write it off to coincedence. On my door is a note from my neighbor in unit #1 saying that she might have some info about what had happened, but I got home too late to knock on her door for the details.

So Saturday before leaving for my friends' party, I talk to #1. Turns out that the ring in question was mine in fact. I even brought it out to show her, and she recognized it (the kid had shown it to her when she heard about this and cornered him). We guess that the second break-in was to return the ring after she threatened to gift-wrap his juvenile ass for the Campbell PD. (She works as security directory for Campbell Middle School, and knows most of the beat officers on a first-name basis.) Whether the quarters were taken the first or second time, I can't say for certain because I don't think I checked the first time.

Anyway, nothing seems to be gone but the change and the cup it was in. The reason the door was open the second time is likely that he took some of my tools or something similar, and replaced those as well. The door is latched, and there haven't been any more items out of place since Thursday. She (#1) has said she'll corner the individual again and lean on him some more, to see if there is anything else he's still holding on to. She's going to threaten him with having the ring fingerprinted (though we can't get any useful prints from it, she knows how to put The Fear into a kid his age).

I said that all I really want is the change-cup back. I don't expect the change itself, but I want the fucking cup. Just on general principal.