Mystery Rock

This past Sunday, we left our house at noon and returned at four p.m. to find a rock (well, technically, a small boulder) placed at the bottom of our front steps. The steps are wide and we could easily circumvent it, but, as I said to Sam, what the hell? Where did the rock come from, who would leave it, and why?

I took to Google and considered its presented options.

1.) A youthful prank.

2.) Witchcraft. Rocks left at doorsteps signify both a curse and a counter-curse.

3.) Ill-will, deliberately left to intimidate or harass.

4.) Criminals marking a house they suspect might be empty and ripe for robbing. They keep driving by and checking to see if the rock gets moved.

The rock weighed maybe eighteen pounds and was not easy to lift, so it seemed like a lot of trouble for kids to go to pull off a prank. A witch’s curse or counter-curse struck me as intriguing and Sam as utterly ridiculous. As for intimidation/harassment, the MAGA guy around the corner was a possibility, but unsubtle; he would have definitely written something like “libtards” on the rock. Ultimately, the criminal activity angle seemed the most probable.

Despite the two home invasions and two car thefts we have experienced, Sam and I are shockingly lax about home security, but now, we’ve settled on a Ring camera. Sam thinks it will effectively discourage intruders and I agree. Also, I’m really hoping to see a witch.