What If???

What if. . . . .
You're home with your daughter. . .
You're in the bathroom and you hear the dog barking at the door. . .
You hear your daughter say, "Sir, you can't come in here!
Sir, you have to leave, You need to leave NOW!"
You hear the dog barking frantically. . .
You open the bathroom door to see what's going on. . .
You see a strange man look at you as he walks down the hallway. . .
You run out of the bathroom (and you're not finished yet). . .
And find the strange man standing in your daughter's bedroom. . .
Looking very lost and confused???

Well, I could (almost) immediately tell that he was someone (probably suffering from dimentia) who had wandered away from home.
I walked him into the living room and sat him down, then calmed Nikita down and reassured her that he was harmless. I called 911, and they sent a police officer.
While we waited, I asked him his name and address, but was unable to find either in the phone book.
After the officer came and asked him a few questions and went out to his car to run a check on him, it occured to me to ask: "Do you live with a lot of other people?"
He said: "Yes, SpanishForkNursingHome" (very quickly.)
I should have thought of that first, knowing that the nursing home is only a few blocks away.
So we told the officer, who then called and confirmed that Bob Mason had indeed gone AWOL.
I said to Mr. Mason: "You snuck out, didn't you?"
He replied: "I certanily did."
So, he was safely escorted out of our home, and to his own, by the nice police officer.
"You be good, Bob", I said as they left.
"Nice teeth", he said to me.
(He had none of his own.)

When it was all over, all of the other "What ifs" came to mind:
What if. . .?
. . .I had been in the shower?
. . .Nikita had been home alone?
. . .Andre & Ivan had been home alone?
. . .Nikita and I were downstairs watching a movie and didn't know the guy was there until he fell
down the stairs?
. . .the guy had been a drug addict?
. . .the guy was a burglar?
. . .with a weapon?

The list could go on and on.
I mentioned some of them to Nikita, but she told me to stop because I was scaring her and she started to cry.
So now we need to have a sit-down with all of the kids, because you never know what kinds of things can happen when you're home alone, and the door is unlocked.