I can't see, because the wool is still over my eyes.

Last night as I was lounging on the couch watching 24 there was a knock at the door. I always hate knocks at the door, but fortunately it hardly ever happens to us. This particular knock sounded friendly like it might be someone I know stopping by. I opened the door and saw a guy in his early 20’s with gel spiked hair and a leather jacket. He was smiling and introduced himself as being a neighbor of ours. He said we was on the debate team at Cal State Fullerton and that they were invited to Oxford University in England for a debate which would be hosted by the BBC. As his story went on he asked if I knew his mom Linda. He told me she walks their black Labrador retriever by our place. I didn’t.

By that time I had already figured he was selling something. So he was selling books, which I buy, but they are donated to the St. Jude Children’s hospital. He handed me a letter from his mom explaining the program, but I didn’t feel like reading it. He also had some other forms and stuff, which he handed to me. I’m a pushover for buying things for fundraisers, because I have vivid memories of having to sell stuff for little league. I agreed to buy one book.

He asked if he could step inside to use the table to write on, so I had him come in. That’s when I found out each book is $38.00. Ouch. By this point I just wanted to go back to watching 24, so I told him it was fine and I would still do it. He also handed me a form to fill out. That’s when Vanessa appeared on the stairway. She was looking at me and mouthing, “No”. I returned a confused look back at her and that is when she told the guy, “Get out of our house or I am calling the police”. I was a little surprised, but he grabbed his jacket and went straight out the door. She told me it sounded like a scam and reminded me that I should never let anyone inside of our house that we don’t know.

I felt dumb. As I thought about it, it did sound a like a scam. The fact that he never came back with his mother to clear his name really made me believe it probably was. I have always prided myself on being able to spot this thing from a mile away. For the next two hours I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I had to rewind the Tivo to watch the scenes over and over again, because I found myself not listening to the show.

Today I emailed a professor involved with the debate team and asked a couple of questions. Hopefully I will get a reply. In the meantime I bolted and locked all of the windows and doors.