Tag: mystery

Posted in neighbor, neighborhood, noticing

Do not disturb

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This is another chapter in the bizarre happenings at my neighbor’s house. In our last episode, he had removed all the glass from the solar landscape lights around his front yard.

The other morning, the front door looked different. I couldn’t really tell what was across the front door and what was written on a piece of paper. I hesitated to walk up to the front door at 6 am. What if there’s a camera behind the doorbell or watching the front of the house?

But that evening, my curiosity got the best of me. I couldn’t see any lights on in the house. What did I have to lose? The big dog and I walked up to the door to find two handwritten warnings: “Do not disturb.”

Interesting. From what I’ve seen, this is the last house in the neighborhood I’d like to disturb. On the other hand, I’ve gotten tired of door-to-door tree services, alarm companies, pest control companies, and well- meaning religious groups knocking on my door. I’ve just haven’t gotten around to putting a stylish “No soliciting” sign by the doorbell.

What’s going on in that home? Something illegal? Something sinister? I don’t know. But I’ll bet this isn’t the last post I’ll write about this house!

Posted in bible

Mystery: a bag of dirt?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

“So, what’s with the bag of dirt?”

I answered, “What are you talking about?”

My son went on, “The little bag of dirt in the front cover of the Bible.”

Forty years ago my mom gave my wife and I a super-sized King James family Bible as a wedding gift. I was never quite sure what to do with it. She did write in some important family tree information that we didn’t have anywhere rose. But it went unused until Good Friday came along and I needed a hefty volume to slam in the darkness, reminding us of the closing of the tomb after Jesus died and was buried.

When I retired, I gave the Bible to my son, also a pastor. After dozens of slams, it was showing its age. But it still made the congregation jump as he slammed it against the pulpit.

But while getting ready for Holy Week, he found a small sandwich bag containing a couple tablespoons of dirt. You would think it would have flown out during one of many slams. It doesn’t appear to be anyone’s remains. No one in our family has been cremated (including pets).

Mom’s been gone nineteen years now. Dad died five years ago. So we can’t ask them. All we can do is guess where it came from.

I had a little brother who died when I was only a year old. Could it be soil from his burial plot? What about dirt from one of the places where we lived? A memento from one of dad’s gardens?

We could send it off to a lab that can tell where it came from. For now, it’s a mystery.

Posted in Life, Stories

The case of the missing package

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The message caught me completely by surprise. “Have not received. Tracking shows still in Florida.”

I sold a used Diaper Genie with a few extra supplies on eBay. I had packed it up and shipped it out on a Thursday with the promise of delivery to the buyer in South Carolina by Monday.

When I checked the tracking number, sure enough, the package had been sitting in Jacksonville for a week. How could that be?

I used a third party shipper, so I went to their website to see if I could get more information. Sure enough, I found this gem of a notification.

How does that happen? How does merchandise just disappear from a box in a truck? Was this an inside job? But then, why would anyone steal a used diaper bucket?

Here’s what I think happened. I think someone tossed the box a little too aggressively, it hit the ground and broke open, spilling the contents. No one wanted to repack it, so they just threw it in the trash and reported it missing. Problem solved. Let insurance handle it.

I will be able to file a claim and get my money back. I just have to send a bunch of info to my shipper.

The Diaper Genie had been sitting in the back of a closet for over a year. No one in my family wanted it, so I asked and got twenty bucks for it. When I went to pack it up, I discovered it still had some used diapers in it! Yes, I wrapped them up and threw them away. But if I knew someone was going to steal it, I would have left them in there!

Posted in Ministry

Is that your ax?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I took this picture on Tuesday, which means we were in Jerusalem and I believe we were on our way to the Upper Room of the Last Supper. Our guide often said, “Be on the watch for unusual things” and this certainly caught my eye as unusual. It appears to be an ax, wrapped in paper, hanging from a string tied to a railing on someone’s upstairs porch.

I don’t know who lived there and I have no idea why someone in the city needed an ax, but it’s fun to speculate the reason behind this tool-storage method. The paper and string look new. This hasn’t been hanging out in the weather for very long. It’s fresh. Just think of the possibilities.

  • Kid-proofing the house? Little ones get into everything. When you don’t have a shed or a basement workshop for tools, where do you keep your ax? “I don’t care where you put it, just get that ax out of the house! You want someone to chop off a finger?”
  • Maybe one of the kids found this and brought it home. But they knew mom would never let them have an ax, so they had to find a place to hide it. Under the mattress? Too obvious. Inside a stuffed animal? Too invasive. “I know, we’ll tie a string and let it down from the porch. Mom will never suspect.”
  • Could a murder have already taken place? Where would you stash the weapon? The solution of a game of Clue: “Levi with an ax in the back alley.” I don’t see any blood though.
  • But I can read a number on the handle: 0527634250. A phone number? If I Google it, a get a reverse lookup website in Hebrew. My Hebrew’s not that good. But maybe I’ll call that number. “Hey, I think I know where your ax is.”
  • Maybe someone is being held prisoner in that upstairs room. But they have gotten their hands on an ax. They are hiding it from the guards until one night when they plan to make their break. Could you bake something like that inside a loaf of challah?
  • It could be for sale. In lieu of swip-swop, just hang your item out the window with a phone number. Call me if you’re interested.

You never know how far a blog post goes. One person reposts it, someone reads it and suddenly realizes, “There’s my ax!”