National Night of Pain and Terror

There's this thing in the United States called National Night Out. Basically it's one night every summer where communities across the nation are encouraged to have some sort of neighbourhood event, like a block party or parade etc. with participation from the local police force in some capacity. The idea is to encourage a strong community spirit and get to know your neighbours, and to generate support for anti-crime programs etc. It's sponsored by the Neighbourhood Watch people (except here they're called the Neighborhood Watch).

Last year it rained apparently. I don't remember hearing much about it, so it's possible that we were out of town that day (probably in Ottawa, if I were to hazard a guess). We got a flyer last week about NNO 2007. Organized by our neighbours to the left and our neighbours across the street, it was a block party taking place on our corner. Literally our corner, since our house is on the corner of two intersecting streets.

I prepared Ozayr in advance and told him that we were going to have to attend this year's NNO. He didn't understand why at all, but that's because Ozayr is inherently anti-social, I don't know if you've noticed. If you've ever seen him at a gathering of 10 or more people at a restaurant, BBQ or park, it's because I dragged him there. It's not that he doesn't like you. It's just that he is anti-social by nature and being with more than 4 people at a time doesn't come naturally to him. Unless you are related to him, of course. Strange for a man who teaches to over 200 students every year, I know. Anyway, I told him that we were going to have go to the block party because it was essentially going to be taking place on our front lawn. Ozayr was okay with closing all the blinds, or pretending we weren't home, but I vetoed all that.

Ozayr got home from work a little late, so he and Hafsa stayed in to finish up dinner while Maymuna and I headed out. We had been spying on the neighbours setting up the tables etc. but still completely failed to notice that there was dinner out there on the tables. And it wasn't until I was standing right there before I realized I had come completely empty-handed to a potluck affair. Great way to make a first impression, obviously.

Gabbed with a few of the neighbours that I knew and met a couple that I didn't, including one across the street from us who had looked at our house when it was on the market and decided not to buy it in favour of the one they're in now. It's a little awkward talking to a complete stranger knowing that he's seen in the inside of your entire house. I wanted to say "by the way, we replaced the nasty carpet in the walk-in closet! And the downstairs bathroom looks so much better now..."

Just about halfway through that conversation Maymuna tripped on the sidewalk and scraped her elbow. She cried loudly, poor girl, it must have hurt. A kind granny-type in bright yellow named Rosie showed up in about 2 seconds with ice and a napkin and tried to wipe Maymuna up, offering to take her to her house to tend to her wounds (though I pointed out that our house was probably closer...). Luckily Ozayr and Hafsa showed up at this point and distracted her a bit, and before long she was running around with the other kids again. Hafsa appeared to take considerable joy in running down the very center of the street (it was blocked off for the party). I guess she was just relishing in the fact that she could.

Here are some pictures of our first National Night Out.




Meanwhile Maymuna fell again. Not as badly, but lots of tears and some scuffed palms. Rosie ran out of her house with a framed picture of her granddaughter to show me the resemblance between her and Maymay. Yes, the child has brown hair and brown eyes, yes, little Dora bangs like Maymuna used to. Yes, she has round cheeks and even a little gap between her two front teeth. No, Maymuna couldn't care less at this point.

We didn't want to leave on a bad note, so we let the girls play for a few more minutes and they were having fun with the neighbourhood boys. Around 8 o'clock they started showing signs of tiredness and we started saying our goodbyes. We were about to head home when we saw a motorcycle with sidecar coming down the closed street. Often a community-police liaison shows up to the block parties, to show the kids a police car or fire engine. So we halted and waited to see who was on the bike. As it slowed and turned I saw a brown blob in the sidecar. It looked like a stuffed bear or dog of some sort. As it got closer I could tell it was a dog, but I didn't realize until too late...

It turned to face us and waved.

I may have mentioned Maymuna's extreme fear of puppets. Puppets, but in particular large man-sized mascots where you can't see a person's face or eyes. Just as we fully realized that's what we were facing, Maymuna let out a blood-curdling scream. I would say it was a shriek of surprise, but no: it was a long scream of pure terror. My last view of the National Night Out block party was Ozayr carrying Maymuna who was sobbing, against the background of the entire neighbourhood staring as we literally fled to our home. Thank God it was so close.

This is how we collapsed on the couch upon entering the house. Maymuna crying over the mascot, Hafsa crying from general tiredness (and wanting Maymuna off my lap so she could nurse).


Now everyone is in bed. I hope my dreams are full of chocolate and fluffy clouds.

And no neighbours.

Goodnight all.