On the Prowl

">I've been informed our high-security house has been breached. You see, as with many homes in Ghana, many residents of Obo construct their houses with iron bars over the windows (and sometimes reinforcing the doors), such as I've only seen in the “less desirable” neighborhoods in San Antonio. They turn your house into an unbreachable fortress, which can be a bit unnerving; makes you think that violent crime is rampant in this country.

If you walked up to a house in the middle of the night in Obo, chances are, you would find the door unlocked.

This lackadaisical attitude backfired on us, I have to say. Not only were we negligent about locking the door; some nights we forgot to shut the door entirely. And well-

We had a cat burglar visit us.

First, he licked all the crumbs off the floor. Then, he jumped up on the counters and overturned some of the dishes, including some food the family had been preparing to sell the next morning.

Then, the feline made off with all of the meat he could grab, except for what was safely locked up in the fridge, since his little paws couldn't manage the latch without opposable thumbs.

But, you'll be happy to know, we have learned our lesson. No more free meals for the vagrant neighborhood riffraff. At least not in our kitchen.