WTH? It's almost 4 am here and I just answered a soft knocking at my door.

[mnhtnbb]

2. I once had a Chapel Hill officer

knocking on our door at 5 am. I was up having coffee.

Turned out my youngest son--who was hosting a sleepover with some middle school friends--had sneaked out and were ringing doorbells in the neighborhood. Someone recognized him.

There were no more sleepovers for some time.

Then there was the 2 am Saturday night/Sunday morning phone call which I answered to hear a voice say, "This is Officer Smith of the Highway Patrol. Your son has been in an accident in Raleigh, but he's ok. Can you come get him?". This was my high school age son who'd been at a friend's for a sleepover. They got bored playing video games and went out in 2 cars to drive around. My son had lost control of his car--30 miles away on a surface street--and wrapped around a street sign. My husband went to get him and two passengers. Driver of the second car was allowed to drive himself home. We made that son pay off the insurance deductible for fixing his car.

Both those episodes of police contact at strange hours freaked me out.