And she's off

Here at STAR's annual writing retreat. Wrote just over 1K this morning, finishing off chapter. Taking internet/freecell break before starting next chapter.

Yes, it's a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining, the weather is warm, and eleven of us are here at the B&B, hunched over laptops, headphones firmly in ears to avoid distractions as we work on our self-imposed wordcount goals. Writers. We're the good kind of nuts.

I laughed at the law

I was either just pranked by a master or I laughed aloud at a law enforcement official.

Right before 10PM the phone rang. The caller identified himself as a member of the Broome County Sheriff's office and then went on to tell me that there was a mountain lion in the area.

I laughed. But he kept on, explaining that there had been "a breach" at the Ross Park Zoo and a mountain lion was on the loose. So they were asking residents to stay inside with their doors locked. I think he expected a reaction from me other than "Okay", because he repeated the explanation.

Honestly, I'd spent the first minute of the call trying to figure out which one of my friends or family was pranking me. But he sounded so serious that I merely thanked him and hung up. I could tell by his voice that I hadn't given him the reaction he expected.

After I hung up, I couldn't stop giggling. I mean, come on. The Ross Park Zoo is across the river and several miles away. Broome County is a big place, do they really have the manpower to call every single household individually? And that bit about locking my door-- since when have mountain lions known how to turn doorknobs?

And yet, there's the lingering sense that I might be wrong. There have been escapes from the zoo before, so it's not entirely out of the question. At least I was polite and thanked him.

Now, if only the newspaper website would come up, so I could check to see if the story is on there.

ETA: Nothing on the web, so I'm leaning toward prank. This is one of those times I wish I paid the extra for caller id.