The Abandoned Suitcase Bomb Scare

Last night was a very amusing night at my apartment complex. A combination of boredom, over caution, and over empowerment of security guards, caused my complex to have a "bomb " scare. Now before I tell this story from my funny point of view realise that I think bombs are very serious and very scary, however, this situation was not serious or scary, even though the security guards sure seemed to think so. It is mid-semester in the land down under, and for my complex that means new students moving in, and moving out. Well obviously in a moving quest someone left their suitcase out in the courtyard, which triggered a "bomb" scare. Let me note that there is an anti-terrorism campaign here similar to the states, "If you see something, say something," and some people are obviously taking this a wee bit too serious.

I heard yelling last night from the security guards, saying "YOU CAN'T COME THROUGH HERE STAY AWAY." Of course having nosey neighbor syndrome I had to go snoop it out, (hey you can't blame me, I have fond memories of spying on our creepy neighbors down the road with my Dad and a pair of binoculars, does that make us creepy neighbors...?) Regardless, I went outside and found that the security guards had made a human barrier around the suitcase and were not letting anyone near it and they said they had called the bomb squad(let me also note that this was a very large suitcase and they were only standing about 20 feet away from it...if it indeed were a bomb, that would not have been a good idea, because it would have been a big one to fit in there.) This silly red suit case sat there inconspicuously, and no one could seem to understand why they could not go near it, but the security guards were SERIOUS. After several minutes laughing at the dramatics of the guards and wishing for the person to which the suitcase belonged to realise it was missing and come collect it in an embarrassed manner, the cops showed up. As the cops approached the threat I could tell from their body language they really couldn't believe they had been called to a "bomb" scare for a suitcase. The walked up to it, examined it with flashlights and then one shrugged at the other and opened it up. (Ohhhh the suspense was killing me, was it going to be a bomb, drugs, a puppy?!) Inside the suitcase the cops found a very threatening pillow and some shoes (I suppose the stilettos could have taken an eye out if hurled directly at the face, but they were going no where just sitting in the suitcase by the stairs.) At this point I was trying to control my hysterical laughter with one of my roommates. The "bomb" aka red suitcase was then escorted into the building as the security guards assured themselves they had done the right thing by patting each other on the back and saying, "we did the right thing, we did the right thing."

I guess the moral of the story is better safe than sorry and beware of red suitcases. If nothing else it surely made my night and I am sure their night much more exciting.