We've had a little crime wave here in Watson. (Yay, Watson, the home of happiness!) About a month ago I was teasing my next door neighbor about his car being stolen. It was taken joyriding by a group of teens, one of whom tried to give it to his friend as a birthday present (the title was in the glove compartment). This is a leave-the-keys-in-it sort of area, so they didn't wreck anything hotwiring it, and they took his beat-up Grand Am, and not the Collector's 70 Chevelle Malibu in the garage. He said he was glad they didn't drive it into the Sag, because it would've cost more to tow out than it was worth. We had a good laugh. Three weeks later, no-one in Watson was laughing.

A couple who lives one block over and one block down from us has a little boy who was in Thing 2's class, until his mom left his dad and moved to Willmar. Sunday night the dad was to return the little boy home after visitation, but didn't show up, so mom came to get him. Around 8 pm her mom called the sheriff to report her home late. At apx. 9:40 pm the sheriff forced the door and found a murder/suicide. Thankfully, the little boy was a few blocks away playing with friends, and his father had the foresight to lock the door. It's enough to give a person the creeps. "They" are saying he'd been depressed lately, but at what point does depression turn to that sort of despair, or rage? He'd been going to church lately, and "seemed" to be fine. Were there no signs that this man needed help? He has a history of battery with his ex-wife, before the boy's mama. Couldn't someone get him into counseling as a condition of custody? And I am ashamed to say, that in a town of 200 people, I didn't know him. His kid in the same class as mine, and I never took the chance to meet him. Could I have saved him? Probably not. Could I have had an influence on him? Maybe. Could I have prayed for him? Absolutely.