The Nocturnal Visitor (Jennifer Semple Siegel) (Non-fiction)



So it’s 3:00 a.m.
We returned from Baltimore two hours ago, and I’m finishing up some chores that need to be done before morning.
Big storm in Baltimore delayed the baseball game – why we arrived home so late.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings, pounding on the front door.
My heart sinks; it’s never a good sign when someone knocks on your door in the middle of the night.
I peek through the peephole.
It’s a young man, medium build with muscular arms, dark haired, possibly Latino.
He wears a dull green tank top.
He yells, “I've been robbed, and I need to call my wife!”
He sounds panicky.
I want to help, but…
It’s 3:00 a.m., and no way, no how, am I opening my door to this stranger.
Still, I don’t want to blow someone off who may be hurt and needs help.
“I’ll call 911!”
A muffled voice: “No, no, don’t do that.”
Well, hell, I’ll just throw open my door to a stranger and hope that he’s not here to rob me or worse.
Uh, no.
I call 911.
Apparently, the man flees; I don’t see him through the peephole, but he could be hiding off to the side.
I’ll wait for the officer.
When the officer arrives, he says someone else in the neighborhood has reported the same guy at their door and assures me I have done the right thing by calling 911.
The officer checks out the periphery of our property and leaves.
By now, the guy has disappeared in the wind.
My reaction raises issues for me, a self-avowed liberal, who believes that the minority, immigrant, and the poor have worth.
My reaction tonight has called my liberalism into question.
Do I just talk the talk and not walk the walk?
I grew up in a culture where one gives aid to strangers, others who are hurting, but I would not feel safe opening my door to this stranger.
Did my Spidey sense go off because he is young, male, and dark skinned?
If so, then shame on me.
Would I have opened my door to a white man in a suit?
A well-dressed woman?
A child?
Or would I be afraid of the child being used as bait?
If someone is hurt, I don’t want to ignore him or her, but, on the other hand, we live in a world where one can no longer trust strangers who pound on one’s door at 3:00 a.m.
When I settle down and think rationally about it, the man likely had a mobile phone.
Even if it had been stolen from him, there is a convenience store just around the corner.
He did not need to come to my door.
The fact he disappeared at the mention of 911 reveals his motive was likely nefarious – had I opened the door the situation might not have turned out well.
I’m not going to sleep well tonight.
Sad.

(489 words)




Comments

Table of Contents: Flash Fiction

Table of Contents: Flash Non-Fiction

Guidelines for Submitting to Suddenlys.com

Privacy and Copyright Notices

Suddenlys.com Cloud

1201-1300 Words1 1301-1400 Words1 14 words1 1401-1500 Words1 15 words1 1500 Words+2 1580 words1 1969 race riots1 19th Century Literature1 20 words1 201-300 Words4 2016 Elections1 21 words1 216 words1 23 words1 263 words1 278 words1 296 words1 3 words1 301-400 Words1 35 words1 401-500 Words6 428 words1 451 456 words1 489 words1 49 words1 49'er1 50 Years Ago: Apollo 11 – First Men on the Moon. Where were You?1 500 words3 501-600 Words1 541 Words1 601-700 Words1 613 words1 701-800 Words4 703 Words2 772 words1 774 words1 801-900 Words2 857 words1 86 45 11 31 896 words1 9-111 901-1000 Words1 A Grave Digger in Search of a Body1 A Reporter Three Orioles and an Astronaut’s Family: The Grand Experiment1 A Story That Could be True1 Accidental writers1 Albert Einstein1 Allegory1 Alternate Universe1 Alternative Definitions1 Anonymous1 AOC1 Apollo 112 Apollo 81 Arizona1 Astronauts1 Baseball2 Birdsong1 Bramble Degan katherinevbt1 Broken Glass1 Cal Ripken Jr.1 Cal Ripken's last game1 Child1 Children1 Classic Flash Fiction1 Copyright Notice1 Creation1 Creativity1 Death and Dying2 Definitions1 Divorce1 Domain Names1 Donald J. Trump3 Donald Trump Mocking a Disabled Reporter1 Dreams1 Dystopia3 Dystopian fiction3 Dystopian non-fiction2 Earth1 Earthrise1 EEVBlog1 Essay2 Essay Poem1 family2 Fantasy2 Fat as a Political Statement1 Fat-Person Manifesto1 Feminist Literature1 Ferry 'Cross the Mersey1 Fiction23 Fiction submissions1 Flash Fiction22 Flash Fiction Project1 Flash Non-fiction7 Flogging the Dolphin1 Fold Me Up1 Found stories1 FOXinated1 Friedrich Nietzsche1 Gate Crashers1 gender2 gender identity1 Gerry and the Pacemakers1 Guidelines for Submitting to Suddenlys.com Project1 Hard-boiled Detective1 Horror1 Humor4 I Had a Dream1 I Hope This Is Just Fiction1 identity1 Idiocracy1 Jackie1 Jeffrey A. Brown1 Jennifer Semple Siegel24 Just Brown People1 Kate Chopin1 Letter1 Life Changes1 Manifesto1 Margaret Atwood1 Mass Shootings1 Massacres1 Mystic Mouse and Calamity Cat1 NASA2 Nico Tini: Private Eye1 Nicotini1 Nightmares1 Non-fiction7 Non-fiction submissions1 nonsensical1 Ocean Waves1 October 6 20011 On Resubmitting Her Creation1 Orioles1 Philosophy1 poem1 Politics2 Poyke1 Privacy and Copyright Notices1 Privacy Notice1 Prose poem1 Quid Pro Quo1 Revenge1 Robert S. Mueller III1 Scams1 September 11 2001: Eighteen Years Ago the World Changed Forever1 Short short story5 Short story4 Social Media Martyrs1 Spam1 Sports1 Stories That Could be Partially True1 Stories That Could Be True8 Stories We Wish Were True3 Stories We Wish Weren't True1 Story-poem3 Strangers1 Submissions1 Sudden Lie1 Sudden Lies1 Suddenlies1 Suddenly1 Suddenlys4 Suddenlys Project3 Sudenlie1 The Crux of the Matter1 The Mueller Report1 The Nocturnal Visitor1 The Pacemaker1 The Story of an Hour1 Thy Daily Dread1 Time1 Trump1 Twilight of the Clods1 Vote1 Vote it Out1 Voting1 Weight issues1 Wife1 Wilson P. Dizard1 Wordplay1 York Pennsylvania1 YT ONG1 Yuma1
Show more