Not So Quiet Little Thatcher Anymore

So I'm sitting here at the computer trying to make myself busy so I don't freak out of my skin completely. Scott left the house about 11:00 tonight to do his nightly ritual of closing up the laundromat. He ALWAYS drives and I figured tonight when we are so unseasonably freezing he would definitely drive. However, he decided to walk and when he walked into the laundromat the lights were off but he could see lights on inside the little room behind the dryers where the cash machine is and he could see someone shaking the cash machine.

Meanwhile I'm at home washing my face in the bathroom when he runs in as pale as a ghost screaming where's the phone. I immediately begin freaking out running around trying to figure out if he's bleeding or dying and trying to find the damn phone. He says the laundromat is being robbed!!! So he calls 911 and reports burglary in progress, I call his parents and tell them and then next thing I know he's jumping in his truck to go back. I'm yelling please wait for the police and don't get out of your truck until they're there while my mind screams please don't leave me with four kids alone!!! I hear Ron's truck start up right after Scott's so I go in the backyard with the phone where I can almost see everything but the laundromat. I see Ron and Scott go straight at the laundromat side-by-side trying to block a car in and then some car take off and they go chasing after it. Still no cops so I'm on the phone to 911 screaming for help faster just as I hear cars screaming around the corner.

A cop got there right after and Scott came back but Ron followed the guys. I ran over to make sure he was alright and luckily he is. Ron chased them down Norton Lane at 100 miles an hour and was leading the cops to them. He was able to get the license plate number and then the guys turned down some dirt road and baled out. Ron just called Scott and said they're on a manhunt for the guys but they found the car, licenses, registration, drugs and drug paraphenalia not to mention GUNS!!, tons of tools for burglary and about $50 in quarters. As luck would also have it Scott had just counted the money today after about two weeks so there wasn't much money in there at all for them to get.

So, that's my exciting news for the night. I'm so grateful for small miracles this could have turned out so badly had Scott done anything differently or been a few seconds earlier or later either way. I'm so sad this small town is starting to have so many problems. It makes me nervous. Hope you all get some sleep tonight because I know we wont be. It's 12:10 and Scott's still over at the laundromat waiting for the police to come back and dust for prints and stuff. It's going to be a long night.