Keys...again

When we lived in Waynedale about 18years ago, I had the habit of taking my keys out of the ignition of my van and just dropping them on the floor beside the seat. The van was always in our detached garage with the doors closed. One time my keys were not where I left them. My wife said that since I misplace things frequently, she thought I lost those too. I looked over everything that weekend, and had to go to Ace Hdwe to get new keys made Sunday so I could go to work. That night when I went into the garage to take the trash out, my keys were sitting right on the countertop. Weird.
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Didn't think much about for quite some time. During Christmas break my son and some friends were playing in the basement, in the 'playroom'. Our basement was broken into 2 sections - the playroom-stairs-hallway, and the furnace-laundry-storage area. Our basement also has a side door that goes outside. This door is dedbolted and can only be locked-unlocked with a key.
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One of the boys went into the hallway to get the car that raced out there. He and the other two raced up the stairs and told my wife that they saw 'a guy' in the laundry area. She told them that they were seeing things, and to prove this point, she went down there and switched the laundry. The boys still wouldn't go back down there. They were so insistant that she called the police to come take a look. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground that morning, they saw no tracks or anything suspicious in the basement. Hours later after lunch, they still refused to go downstairs. My wife kept doing laundry.
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Back story now....I always take left overs to work for lunch. Occasionally, in the morning, some and at times, all of lunch would be missing. Once in awhile, my wife would wake me up saying she smelled candles. And I did too.
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So...after lunch right after my wife brought up another load of laundry, a noise of something falling in the basement srtartled everyone. My wife called me and told my of this, I had her prop a chair under the doorknob while I called the police and came home. The same officers came out this time too. They had just came outside when I got home. They said that someone had indeed been in the house, and they apologized for not seeing the person when they were there the first time.
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A stack of boxes that we stored our Christmas decorations in fell over. Behind this 'stack' an opening went under the stairs. And in there was some used matches, candlewax drippings, a washcloth, a some foods scraps, a twinkie wrapper, and some other things. The side basement door was unlocked, and going across the seat and back of the lawn-glider chair were fresh footprints. The path went around the garage, into the backyard, and to the street behind us where the path disappeared.
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We were freaked out to say the least. That evening, I took huge nails and nailed that door closed, changed all the deadbolts in the house, put hasps and locks on the garage, and nailed all the first floor windows closed.
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Over the next several months we forgot about our 'visitor'.
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It was the next fall shortly after I got home from work, a police car pulled into the driveway. The officer told me that they got the guy who broke into our house. About 3 days before, a neighbor on the street behind us, ran into the guy in his kitchen in the middle of the night. He so stunned the intruder that he froze in place. He held him there until the police arrived.
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The kid, he was 18 at the time, was homeless. His dad was unknown, and while he was at school his junior year, she took all her things and left...he came home to an empty apartment. He still went to school and even graduated. On him was a backpack. In the back pack was a keyring with ove 30 keys that were numbered. Also was some clothes, candles, a lighter, some snacks, soap, and a towel.
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The kid described how he survived...he snuck into houses late, at some food, cleaned himself, and slept. He never stole anything but food. He did work at a couple of places - the police did verify this.
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The officer asked if I wanted to press charges. I did not, neither did anyone else.
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That following summer, I ran across the neighbor who caughtthe kid. He took him in and helped him get a decent job and apartment in Waynedale and the kid still comes by occasionally.
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That happened in 1990. We moved out of Waynedale in 1999 and lost track of the neighbor.
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Weird - huh?!