I Have a Purse, and I'm Not Afraid to Use It

I've noticed that Homewood has some motorcycle gangs.  One of them seems to be headquartered out of a building about 50 yards from my house.  Ever since moving to Homewood, one of the most annoying things we've experienced is the obnoxious sounds of high-speed motorcycles day and night.  I'm not saying that I mind the sound of motorcycles.  I'm saying that the motorcycles near us fly up and down the streets of Homewood at high speeds while mixing in all kinds of tricks.  Several of the riders practice tricks in the parking lot of the school next to our house...  usually between the hours of 5pm and midnight.  The riders may or may not be in a gang (they may just be regular guys practicing tricks).  Either way, thier actions are dangerous to the children who hang out around our house and the school during evenings.  They're so loud that they keep my kids from sleeping, and I have a hard time concentrating while I study at night.

I actually talked to the riders about it one time, but that doesn't seem to have made any difference.  Their response to my words was, "Don't call the cops on us."  I eventually had to file complaints with the city about their actions.  After months, all of my complaints have not made one bit of difference.  There are still no police patrols to be found when the riders are flying around my neighborhood almost every night, or especially when they're practicing tricks in the school parking lot.  I'm guessing that motorcycle noise and skid marks in the elementary school parking lot are not really high on the police's list of priorities.

So... tonight I borrowed Julie's car to run an errand.  I noticed that the bikers were in the school parking lot once again doing whatever they felt like doing.  After running the errand, I parked her car on the street in front of our house.  I looked for the bikers, and sure enough they were still disturbing our neighborhood by doing "wheelies" in the school parking lot.  I decided I was going to get out of her car and try to make eye contact with them to see if I could get them to call it a night.  But, before doing that, I noticed Julie's purse on the floor of the car.  I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave her purse in the car overnight, so I decided to pick it up so that I could give it to her in the house.  You can probably see where this is going.  I grabbed her purse, exited the car, closed the car door, locked the doors, hitched the purse to my forearm, took a few steps toward the school parking lot so that the motorcycle riders could see me, I made eye contact with them, and I took a few steps toward them to possibly talk to them about leaving.  Only one problem... it hit me in that moment that I was holding a purse in the midst of my little bold move.  That couldn't have gone over too well... except to give them a chuckle to lighten the mood of our ongoing dispute.  In retrospect I wish I would have yelled, "I have a purse, and I'm not afraid to use it!"  But, I didn't say that.  I realized how silly I must have looked, and I made my way back into my house.  Needless to say, the motorcycle noise carried on for several more hours.  It is still going on as I type this.  They may have gained some ground for tonight.  But only for tonight.  There's always next time... I just need to remember to leave the purse behind!