Arson

Okay, so the 9-year-old boy next door has stepped over the line. The other week he was playing with his mom's lighter: setting pieces of paper on fire and flinging them from his bathroom window into the alleyway between our houses (which mind you, is only about three feet wide). He caught his own window sill on fire, and some things in the alleyway. This resulted in the Cambridge Fire being there in about two seconds flat (bless them), closing off our street, and investigating the situation. He admitted to what he'd done (not without some stern talking to from the firemen that this was a serious situation), and it's on the books as arson. This means that the fire department has to do an investigation, the police department, and DSS since it was a minor who set the fire.

Having the street shut down by two fire trucks on a Sunday evening at 8:30 PM brought out many of the neighbors, and we all started piecing together our grievances against this child. We realized our collective story about him was more serious than any of us had realized, and I think I'm relieved that DSS is going to get involved - maybe he'll get the help he needs. The Fire Chief was very concerned about the other incidents we were sharing with him, and encouraged us to call the police and create a record any time we saw something suspicious. We have begun to do this, starting with the bike that showed up in our backyard (that we know he put back there and was probably stolen). The police came and collected it.

We've also talked with several of the other neighbors, and are renewing our efforts collectively to set some boundaries with him. For example, if we catch him in any of our yards to reprimand him, and contact the owner. It's hard, because the kid clearly needs people who care about him, but he also clearly needs boundaries and discipline. While we're not the ones primarily responsible for disciplining him, we can at least discipline him when it concerns our property. At this point too, it's not just for his sake, but our own safety.

Sigh. I had hoped we had a few more years left before he turned into a real threat.