I'd planned to do the usual 5.24 this morning, but just as I was leaving the house I noticed two boys in their late teens and dressed in dark tee shirtsjust meandering down the street towards the park. One of them was holding something to his side that looked like it might have been a can of spray paint. I'd never seen the kids before and knew they weren't from our neighborhood. I put the paper up on the porch and just slowly walked behind them. They kept turning around to see where I was. I slowed even more and picked up some garbage by the side of the road and put it in Clarke's garbage can. They were still walking very slowly and they looked like they were going to head down the trail along the creek. I started jogging west past the park, but stopped just around the corner to see what they were up to and about thirty seconds later I saw them run towards the pavilion in the park. They must have seen me at that point because they immediately stopped running and slowly walked over to the bulletin board like they were interested in something posted there. There wasn't much to read and it was almost comical how non-chalant they were trying to look when the only people out at 5:30 in the morning are obviously exercising or on their way to work. I ran north to loop around to the house and call the police dispatcher. After I gave them a description of the boys and then resumed my run. I didn't see them again after that and about a half an hour later a police officer called me on my cell phone to report that he was at the park, but didn't see the boys or any sign of vandalism. That wasn't too surprising as I was sure they were long gone and that they realized they were being watched. I suggested he might look around the elementary school for them. I looked around for them on my way back home but didn't see anything. |