By Tony Vanderwarker
In the middle of the night, she’s awakened by the sound of a car pulling up outside. Checks the clock, 3:14. Gets out of bed, pulls back the curtain and peeks out into the dark. She can barely make out a car. Then she sees two flashlights flicker on, iPhones eerily peering around the driveway.
“Claire, wake up, there are people out there, men, four of them, I think,” she says, shaking her partner.
“What?” Claire grumbles, sits up.
“Do you think they are burglars?” Naomi asks.
“Tony and Annie said they never have problems.”
“Well we do now, I think they are coming up here. I can see their shadows, just barely but that’s what it looks like.”
“Oh, s***! What do we do?”
“I can hear them opening the door.”
“There’s a paring knife in the kitchenette.”
“You think I’m going to stab someone? Now they’re coming up the stairs. I’m going to go and put my weight against the door, try to keep them out.”
“Better put this on first, you’re stark naked.” Claire says as she throws Naomi a robe.
Shrugging on the robe, Naomi leans against the door, with her hand gripping the door handle. She feels it moving in her hand. Ginning up her loudest voice, she pleads, “Please, don’t open the door.”
Silence, then footsteps.
“I think I hear them going down the stairs.”
Claire goes to the window and cranks it open. She sees four guys walking across the lawn toward the parking area. She says to them, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
One of them looks up at her and says, “No, sorry about that, I guess Tony must have double-booked.”
Of course, Tony and Annie slept through the whole thing. Not even the dogs heard their car coming in.
“Can you believe I said that?” Claire says the next day as she tells us about their nocturnal adventure in our studio. “I didn’t say, ‘you better get out of here, I’ve got a gun.’” Instead I say, “Is there anything I can help you with. Now I’m English, but that’s being a little too proper.”
Fortunately they are being good sports about it.
“We’re so sorry,” we say.
“I got a text from the guys,” Annie says. “Let me read it to you.”
Hi Annie –
So apparently I booked the wrong dates – I meant to book Friday – Sun. Me and my party arrived late last night. We met the people currently staying in the studio. We accidentally woke them up not knowing they’d be there. Gave them a bit of a scare – please extend my apologies to them! They seemed in good spirits about it tho.
We made accommodations by staying at holiday inn last night, so it worked out for us.. Again, so sorry for waking your guests up last night, I feel terrible about that!
“That’s an honest mistake,” Claire said. “Dumb but honest—I’ve certainly done my share of stupid things.
Claire and Naomi, who live in the Cotswalds, had booked the studio for five days so Claire could show her partner where she lived for ten years in the 80s.
“Again, we feel terrible. What hosts we are—slept through the whole business.”
“Actually, it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened on our trip to the States, our friends back in England will love hearing the story.”
“You bet,” I joke. “It’s not always you have a home invasion and live to tell about it.”
The day before, they had asked if they could extend their stay.
I told them it was booked but they were welcome to stay in our guest room on Saturday, “It’s the least we can do,” we said.
Fortunately, everything worked out for both parties, the guys stayed in the studio on Saturday and the ladies in our guest room.
And we were invited to spend time with the ladies at their house in the Cotswalds. That’s Airbnb for you, people who locked themselves out, owners who book themselves out, and guests that get woken up in the middle of the night. But all’s well that ends well.