Last night I met Sheriff Deputy Z. He was responding to a 911 call that I had made. It was after midnight when we went to bed. The sheets and blankets felt good as we climbed into our king-size bed. It did not take long until we both, Dottie and I, were sound asleep.
Suddenly something woke me up. I thought I heard a loud noise, and I grabbed my phone, hoping the lit screen would light up the room enough for me to have a look around. I looked at my watch, and it was two-thirty in the morning. When I finally got the screen lit, it inadvertently started dialing a number, and I could hear the ring-back tone. I yelled, oh no! I quickly hung up the phone. I remember thinking, somebody, is going to be upset with me. Then, somebody was trying to call my phone. Fortunately, my phone blocked those calls.
I checked to see what number I had dialed, and I could not believe it; it was 911, and the person trying to call me was the 911 operator. I decided I better call 911 back to let them know I had no crisis. The operator asked many questions and told me she would write “no crisis” on the report. I thanked her and hung up. Not five minutes later, someone was knocking on my door. It was Sheriff Deputy Z. He had responded in his well-lit sheriff’s car. Deputy Z could see my wife standing in the dining room and concluded there was no crisis in our home. The deputy was a great guy, easy to talk to, and genuinely interested in our welfare.
Deputy Z showed me the button I probably pushed in the dark. It is an emergency button that is on the screen keypad when the phone is locked. If you push it the phone will automatically dial 911, he said. He seemed happy that this 911 was a non-emergency. Deputy Z went back to his car, wishing us a good night’s sleep. I double-locked the front door. Now we had another problem; Dottie and I were wide awake.
We watched an old rerun of detective show on the television in our bedroom. Dottie and I laughed as we thought about what had just happened. For the record? Do not be a klutz and accidentally push the emergency button. Just saying, the emergency button works.