It was midnight.
I think it was in June - perhaps July - maybe August- perhaps later. I'm not really sure since it was maybe almost 10 years ago. I was sitting outside on the fenced-in porch of our apartment in Meridian, MS. We were lucky that our apartment faced a woodsy area, so I had an ample amount of privacy as I sat. The temperatures were very nice and comfortable - perhaps a little warmer than it would normally be. I wasn't from around there so I didn't know what was normal and what was not. I was here in Mississippi on perhaps my 90th project, this time in a new gasification plant, assisting the plant personnel operating it.
It was about midnight. I was relaxing there, sipping a nice gin and tonic, when some people, very quietly (it was very late, you know) moved into the empty apartment across from us in the same building.
And that was when the weird stuff started to happen.
A few days later, I had the distinct impresssion I was being watched. Could it have been my imagination? Of course, it could have. But...the feeling would not go away. Like I mentioned, there was nothing but a woodsy area our porch faced.
I took my digital camera, scanning the area to see if any infrared spots would show up on the photos. Apparently, many digital cameras are able to "see" in the infrared spectum.
Nothing.
But....I just couldn't shake it.
My wife was out of town during this time - up visiting her folks in Ohio. I even mentioned to her that I had this feeling of being watched, but never saw anything. It got so bad, I kept my pistol near at hand.
Several weeks or months past and nothing at all happened. The feeling of being watched didn't completely go away. Perhaps my "spidey senses" got numbed from the constant tingling.
"Well, I know why you felt you were being watched," my wife declared one day. "I was out checking the mail and the apartment manager saw me told me that the new vice-president was coming soon."
Well, that...SORT of explained it.
She continued "You know who our new neighbors are? It's Pence's son and his wife."
Well, that DID explain it. We found out the soon-to-be-vice-president's son had been attending the nearby Meridian Naval Air Station for training and was graduating. So, mother and father were coming to help support and celebrate his graduation. They would also stay for Thanksgiving.
And then the security started showing up...
...and they were NICE. One person would guard the son's apartment door. Everytime I showed up he would profusely apologize for being in the way. Being in the way? I never felt so safe in all my life!
Shortly after that, more black SUVs showed up as they surveyed the area. One day, several security persons were sort of hanging around our dumpster so I told my wife I had to go throw the trash out so I could meet them. We pretty much just shared cordial greetings. I didn't get any cold looks. They probably already knew who I was and had my rapsheet (that was most likely blank unless it included the dozen or so speeding/parking tickets I had).
The worst part of all this was they had the apartment management "fix" a light that had at one time illuminated the entire back part of our apartment. To my utter dismay, I no longer had the darkness to relax in while sitting outside on my porch. Just that damn bright light.
They had one of the guards knock down some old cobwebs and swept up the place - not that any of it was really needed - all the while apologizing for being in the way.
"They came and searched our apartment", my wife informed me.
"Really? Why?" I asked.
"They had a bomb-sniffing dog. The goverment guy was with the local police. I told them we had a pistol in the apartment. "
"Ooo. How well did that go over?"
"The government guy looked at the police guy and the police guy said 'everyone in Meridian has a gun'. The government guy shrugged and that was it."
Now....interestingly, I told this story to a lawyer who immediately told me we could have denied entry since they didn't have a warrant nor did they even have probable cause. Yeah, I guess we could have.
Meeting Pence - (not me)
We then received some communication that a large portion of the parking lot around our building was going to be roped off and no parking was allowed in that area. Later the "black SUVs" would show up and park there.
Then while I was at work, the presumptive vice president showed up to spend Thanksgiving with his son and wife. I got home and my wife had the news. She'd had a nice chat with the Senator/VP Pence and his wife.
"I was taking our dog out for a walk and ran into Pence and his wife."
Whoa! She MET them.
She said they were very nice. They admired Finn, our little mix-breed dog. Mrs. Pence urged my wife to intrude on their son to dog-sit Finn if we needed to go on vacation. Now, I really liked that. We had planned a vacation to Las Vegas so, this would be perfect.
They stayed for a few days. Now the interesting thing was, all the while they were visiting, amongst the several black SUVs there was always one with the motor running continuously. I took this to mean it was always on-the-ready in case of a medical emergency and they had to race the VP to the hospital.
I don't recall how long the Pences stayed with their son. One day after a long night of working at the gasification plant I fell asleep on the couch. My wife roused me, "if you want to meet the vice-president you better wake up now . He's right behind you outside."
Sure enough he was there and getting set up with the local constabulary for photos. Right outside our porch.
Well, I wasn't really very presentable, but the setup couldn't have been more apropos. So, I grabbed my phone and took a photo through the sliding glass door.
The second part of the story.
Since we had finally booked our trip to Las Vegas, it was time to ask the Pence neighbors if they could watch our dog while we were away. Now, up this time we had never met them no seen them. I wanted my wife to ask them. She wanted me to ask them. I wasn't even sure what to say. I finally figured we would live or die with whatever came out of my mouth. Since our door was maybe 5 feet from theirs, it wasn't as if I had even 3 seconds to come up with something clever.
I knocked. They came to the door. We introduced ourselves. I told them we were going on vacation soon and wondered if they would watch our dog, Finn, ffed him and take him out for a walk or two each day. To which they replied they would. Whew!
The third part of the story
Well, one good turn deserves another. Some time later they asked us to watch and feed their cat. My wife handled that. I told her she should have taken photos of herself in their apartment and posted them on Facebook.
For some reason she didn't see the humor at all in my suggestion.
The zereothpart of the story - the Homeland Security Agents
I should add just a litte more background to the story. The apartment the young Pences lived in was previously lived in by two Homeland Security personnel. They were extremely nice just like the security people later.
Now, this area of Mississippi is very prone to tornadoes. And the siren went off on several occasions scaring the crap out of us. One day, one of the Homeland Security guys visited us and said "In case things get bad with another tornado, there's a culvert on the other side of the lake. It will hold maybe 60 people or more." I don't recall the exact number of people he said it could hold, but it was a lot.
Later, while walking our dog I went around the man-made pond to check on what he said. And sure enough he was right.
I was amazed. And I couldn't help but wonder what made him decide to check on this. What protocol do they have in place that would include providing for the safety of the local peoples from a local disaster?
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