Sitting in the backyard in a quiet Sunday morning, I was reading FDR, a small prints book with 532 pages that I borrowed from the library months ago and have since renewed four times. Out of the bed and still in my pajama, I put on a warm jacket and socks, enjoying the reading and the crisp air.
In a corner next to the wall, a hummingbird was building her nest in the fork of a dangling slender vine. It was her second day. As she hummed back and forth, busy with collecting materials for her nest, her vibrating wings and occasional chirping sounds distracted me from time to time. I took out the camera, but the distance and dim light deterred me from taking clear pictures. When I was just about to give up, a few wild green-yellow parrots flew by overhead noisily. When one of them landed atop a tall pine tree in the neighbor's backyard, my lens was ready for the moment.
As I continued my reading into a new chapter, around 9:35 am, a helicopter roared right above the rooftop. When I had my camera zoomed, it flew out of slight. After a few failed attempts, I stepped out the front door, looked up to the direction of buzzing sounds. There, against the blue sky, a white flying helicopter was hovering low. I took a few shots and then turned back to the yard. Minutes later, a man was broadcasting loud from a speaker in the distance, but with the noisy helicopter nearby, the muffled sounds, loud as they were, were indiscernible. I rushed out the door again, only to catch the last two words—“sheriff department”. Looking around, I did not spot anything abnormal. Confounded, I walked a few steps more towards the green lawn. Less than 50 yards away, a patrolling police car was slowly driving by, and upon sighting me, it paused a few seconds, long enough to see me up and down, a middle-aged woman in pajama pants and a big camera in hand. I stood there, and saw the neighbor, a young mother holding a little baby at the doorstep. She looked just as puzzled as I was. We asked each other about the message from the loud speaker, and she said she heard just as little. Then the same police car turned around towards our street. Inside sat two police officers. I approached the car gingerly, asking them what was happening? The policeman told me that they were looking for someone whose name was xxx, and upon my further inquiries, told me that they were looking for a female Korean. I shook my head, signaling that I did not know anything or see anybody suspicious around. The policeman slightly nodded his head, and the car rolled on. I then turned to the neighbor, telling her what I was told, laughing away jokingly that I was not the woman they were after.
The helicopter circled far and near for another 5 to 10 minutes before it disappeared completely. It must be searching for the same suspect pursued by the patrolling police.
