My work here is done...

I am evil. And I am foisting my evilness off on others.

My husband is watching the first episode of SG1.

Obviously my (and my daughter's) obsessive obsessing over it has rubbed off.

*glee*

Yep. My work is done.

Oh... I also made an icon for a contest in the sg1_showdown community I belong too. Mind you, I have only seen one ep with Jonas, I just wanted to play around a bit.

Looking for security...

Every morning I leave for school and my daughter is home alone for about 20 minutes before her ride comes to pick her up. No problem. Especially today since Wil was still in bed, sleeping.

However.

Today, after I left, it seems the upstairs neighbor came down to ask to use our phone (not sure if they have one up there or not but they have asked to use the phone before). Myr said yes and brought the phone outside for her to use. The neighbor called 911, said that she was schizophrenic and that she was having an episode and that they needed to come.

The police came (quickly, mind you, because all this happened several minutes after I left and yet before Myr was picked up). And Myria heard some of what the neighbor said about her "episode" -- something about her son being attacked in another dimension -- before her ride came.

At this point, Myr woke up Wil because she had to go and didn't know what to do with the police there and the phone outside and the door open... then she left for school. Wil said everything went away pretty much after that, but mind you he just woke up and really didn't know what was going on because Myr didn't tell him anything but that the phone was outside and the door was open.

Now. Myr is handling this all extremely well. She has some grasp of what schizophrenia is. She was, in fact, upset that someone at school said the neighbor was "crazy" because, as Myr says, she's not crazy, she has schizophrenia.

It was a stressful -- albeit not dangerous -- event and Myr went to school and doesn't seem to have any problems dealing with all this. I can't tell you how proud of her I am.

Now, I know the basics about schizophrenia. And knowing the neighbor has it does explain some of the rather bizarre sounds that were coming from upstairs the past couple of days. I know that schizophrenia isn't an inherently dangerous thing. I understand that it is, as Myria said, not crazy.

I am, still, totally unsure of what to do now.

Do I tell Myria not to lock the door and not answer it for any reason? Small town here. I leave the doors unlocked when I am at home. In the time between when I leave and Myr's ride is here she often only leaves the screen door open (or did when it was warm enough) so she could hear when her ride got here.

I am uneasy at the thought of leaving her alone here tomorrow. Which is totally wrong, because the neighbor's have lived upstairs for close to a year with no problems.

I don't want her to lock the world out. And, Lord knows, it was a good thing she did letting her use the phone because the neighbor needed help.

But she is eleven and shouldn't have to deal with this, no matter how well she handled it.

I really don't want to scare her about the neighbor either. The neighbor is a nice person, if somewhat private (and, now, I know why).

ACK. ACK. ACK.

I know. I know. All the bad things that happen to kids and people happen in small towns just as easily as big cities. Don't answer the door. Don't answer the phone. Don't get involved.

But that's how life goes to hell in a handbasket. How do I draw the line, where do I lock the world out? At what point is it just all about the "safe" thing? And... and how can it not be? Bad things happen. It didn't happen here and I'm not thinking that it will... but bad things happen.

There's safe. There's smart. There's right.

How do I teach an eleven-year-old when you should have to choose between them, when I haven't a clue myself?

I need more information. Not sure what information I need, but I feel I need it. Don't know where to get it either.

I'll talk more to Myr. I will think more on it. I will say several prayers for neighbor and child.

Just... I want answers. Pat, simple, safe answers. But I know life doesn't work that way.