A painful setback

Published on 5/1/02 Daily Egyptian (SIUC)

There are two dogs in my household, one very old, one very young. We keep them for companionship. The older dog, Mikki, is an aging cocker spaniel nearing the end of her run. She's been a member of our house so long we tend to think of her as another child. Lately, she's a nearly blind and deaf child. She can be tragically funny at times. Call her name, and she'll look everywhere but right at you as she tries to discern your location.

Nemesis is the younger dog, a mixed breed. She's all puppy, generally with two speeds - flank speed and dead stop. She barks at everything she sees, whether it's a squirrel in the yard or a kid down the block. We can't seem to teach her when she should bark and when she shouldn't. Because she tends to eat things like shoes and cell phones when she's bored, she's been spending her nights sleeping in a dog cage. Neither dog helped me out Thursday night when I needed it.

Both were sleeping like the dead when someone entered all three of our vehicles and helped themselves to the things we carried. What they took ranged from the silly to the heartbreaking. The knuckle draggers who swiped my stuff grabbed a large plastic box out of the back of the van. This was our camping kitchen box, and they got a lot of instant cocoa, instant coffee, instant oatmeal, some Jiffy Pop, a plastic table cloth, miscellaneous cups, plastic silverware and the like. Oh, and the bastards got my coffee pot. That hurts.

On the other hand, they also got my entire camera outfit. A nice (if older) Canon auto focus SLR, three new lenses and a good flash. Leaving the camera kit in the van probably wasn't the brightest idea I've had in awhile, but as a photojournalism student, it was expedient. I needed to have it with me whenever I was out and about in case something qualifying as spot news happened, so I could shoot it for class. I hadn't had the outfit very long - I bought it at the beginning of the semester with a student loan. Hopefully, I can put together enough images to complete the class.

It did become one those "teachable moments," as I used it to illustrate to my kids how much a casual theft can hurt. Both kids are devastated by the loss of the camping gear; it will curtail our weekend trips for a while until I can rebuild our camping kitchen. They're also devastated by the camera loss. With baseball and softball season starting, both were counting on me to take a lot of pictures for grandparents, aunts and uncles. My son was hit directly as the lowbrow, lowlife thieves snagged his camp chair out of the van, too.

I realize this isn't the kind of column my readers may have been expecting this week, but the emotional wounds of being ripped off haven't scarred over yet. They are still quite raw, and it's hard to think of anything else just yet. I'm trying to think of ways to replace the camera outfit quickly, and the answer I keep coming up with ends with the word "years." The camping stuff will probably be replaced sooner. It's ironic that after spending several semesters as the police reporter for the Daily Egyptian that I will likely end up on the police blotter as the victim of an auto burglary.

Although the miscreants who would do this type of crime aren't likely to read the newspaper past the police blotter, or even be able to read for that matter, here is a personal plea. There may have been exposed film in my camera or the camera bag I need for class. I'm willing to trade the dozen rolls of new film you missed for the exposed film. Please don't come to the house; my new dog now sleeps out front and she's pretty excitable. Instead, take the film to 610 E. College St. in Carbondale. Just tell the nice officers where you got it, and they will arrange an exchange.