The Suspected Arsonist

No school today for the MLK holiday. Which led to Terry wanting to spend time with his best bud Michael. Terry's and Michael's favorite thing to do (aside from video games)? Go to the local middle school to play football or soccer on the turf field. Which leads me to a complete side rant--


WHY do all middle schools in Eugene have turf fields??? Those things cost a fortune! Granted, I know it rains a lot in Oregon and turf drains much better than a grass field, so I do see some value in them in a rainy climate. But all parents should at a minimum be given an instruction sheet for how to deal with all the tiny pieces of rubber that get embedded in their children's socks and DO NOT come off even upon washing and the piles of them that sprinkle out across the floor when the kids get home and shuck the shoes from their feet. End side rant.


So today Terry and Michael made plans to meet up at the turf field. Michael's house isn't far away and he walks to the field when they meet up. Well, it was cold today (had there BEEN school scheduled today it likely would have been cancelled due to the dusting of snow we had last night). So Terry, getting tired of waiting at the field for Michael, decided to walk toward Michael's house to meet up with him. As he walked, he got colder. So he cinched the hood of his hoodie up tight around his head and stuffed his hands in his pocket.

As he walked toward Michael's house, he started down a path through a condo community that they normally walk through. An older woman (Terry said she was probably as old as Grandma...sorry mom!) came out of her condo and started eyeing him. He just kept walking. Soon he noticed he was being followed. Not just "hey that old lady happens to be walking the same direction as me, I wonder if she is following me" kind of following, but the "hey, that old lady is following me and jumping behind trees to hide from me whenever I turn around and look at her" kind of following. Sweet, thoughtful, well-mannered Terry was being stalked by an old lady. This just freaked him out and made him walk faster and probably made him "more suspicious" in this poor woman's mind.

The face of an arsonist???
Looks kinda like a mug shot!

A few minutes later, Terry arrived at his friend's house to find he wasn't home. Michael had been at a tutoring session at another house in the area and was planning to walk from there to the turf field. So the boys had not crossed paths. Terry turned around and headed BACK to the field. As he started back down the road, he was soon past by a VERY SLOOOOOOOOWWWWW moving police car. The police car pulled up beside him and the office inside gave him quite the lookover, before finally driving on. At this point Terry is pretty well freaked out. He's been stalked by an old woman and now the police are checking him out. Just then another car goes by and completely douses him in slushy winter puddle mess. Not his day. He made it back to the park to find Michael patiently waiting for him, but by then he was in no mood for soccer/football. He was wet, cold, and well, a little paranoid. So the boys headed back to Michael's house.

Upon arriving back at Michael's, Terry learned from Michael's parents that over the weekend, a house fire in the south Eugene area was labeled as arson. And "a white male with short hair, wearing what appeared to be a light gray hooded sweatshirt...was seen leaving the backyard shortly before the fire was reported." (according to the article in the newspaper on Sunday) Which of course, to a nice old lady in a condo complex, must have been our suspicious arsonist-in-a-hoodie looking son! Luckily he must've looked pretty harmless to the police officer.

So, while we definitely support reprimanding suspected arsonists, and hope that this one is caught soon, please know that Terry Leonard is NOT the arsonist on the loose in Eugene. But perhaps the little spook he got today will remind him throughout his life that it's never good to get in trouble with the law.   :-)