Our train club, a non-profit fellowship organization, has been broken into five times.

We know who did it. There is a nest of thieves infamous in that neighborhood – the neighbors told us about them. On the third break in, the K-9 unit went right to their door. They all bonded out the next day. The ringleader, a 35-year-old bag-of-shit, has three other B&Es he’s currently bonded out of. We’ve gotten a look at his rap sheet – its almost a novella.

We’ve added motion detectors to the club and strengthened the weakpoints. We’ve also removed anything of value – no computers, no cash, nothing. We even put that on a sign on the back where he’s broken in the last two times.

And to my utter disgust, I was called by the alarm company at midnight, Christmas eve, about the same alarm going off again.

So there I am at 1am in the cold, standing on the property line while the K-9 unit is released into the building in hopes he is trapped in there. A train buddy had also come out and we both exchanged Christmas wishes that the dog would provide significant mauling to our repeat felon. No luck – he’d slipped through his break point, had a quick look about (the same places as before, obviously in hopes that St Nicolas had already been there). And then he laid a finger aside of his nose and vanished before the firearms of the police and the teeth of the dogs could be brought to bear.

And while we were standing there in the cold flash of red and blue, damned if this prince of peace himself didn’t come strolling down the street, Mr. Concerned Citizen out for a stroll, curious at such constabulary activity. The cop at my side glared at him like he was dogshit with legs, muttering “That’s your boy. That’s…” “Yeah, I know it’s him,” I frowned back. “Can I borrow your service revolver?” “If only,” the cop grunted. Then he walked over and had a quiet word with our nocturnal air-taker. I don’t know what was said, but our boner did his shuck-and-jive shuffle back the way he’d come, fading back into the darkness he’d oozed from.

And so on the chess game goes on, we fortifying and strengthening the building one way, him finding a new way to break in. It’s pointless and frustrating. And, until his trail date, seemingly endless.