DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

My senior year in college, I lived in a 2-story dump in Pittsburg called Siena House, named after Saint Siena, the Patron Saint of Italy. Most of the girls who lived there were Catholic. I was a heathen Methodist, but they let me move in anyway. I think they were desperate for some more roomies so they could keep the rent at $20.00 a month apiece.

Unfortunately, Saint Siena wasn't watching over our house during the summer of 1970, because that's when we residents became the victims of Benny the Burglar, a very talented cat burglar, I might add. How he broke through one of Siena's window screens, stole purses in six different bedrooms, four of them upstairs, while we were girls were asleep, is just mindboggling. And, he did it TWICE!

Both times, we found our purses strewn in the yard, bereft of money. I lost a total of $15.00 from the heists, which doesn't sound like much, but when you consider that I was making 90 cents an hour from my minimum wage campus cafeteria job, it was a lot. Bummer.

The Pittsburg Police Department investigated, going so far as to plant an officer in the house one night, but, of course, Benny chose not to show up. It was believed he was the same guy who was arrested for attacking a coed early one morning as she was reporting to work at the cafeteria. She had the presence of mind to yell like a Banshee, help arrived in a snap, and he was hauled off to jail. We didn't have further visits from Benny after that.

To this day I can't figure out how not a single one of us girls woke up during these break-ins. After the first burglary, I kept my purse on the floor right next to the head of my bed. Why didn't I wake up? Of course, if I had awakened and discovered Benny lurking over me, I would have totally freaked out and could have lost more than my money. Maybe it was just safer to roll out the welcome mat, remain asleep, and let ol' Benny and his sticky fingers have at it with the purses.