nearly caught twice.

Over the past year, I’ve had two close calls. On both occasions, I was dressed in my nurse’s uniform and went outside.

The first time happened when I stepped into the backyard and glanced to my left. My neighbor next door was busy watering her plants. Fortunately, she was so engrossed in them that she didn’t notice me. I quickly retreated inside.

The second incident occurred around 5:00 AM as it was starting to get light out. Clad in my nurse’s uniform—a blue and white checkered polyester dress—and a navy cardigan, I headed over to the green recycling bin located in the front garden of my next-door neighbor. She goes away on Monday nights, so I decided to put her bins out since they are collected Tuesday morning. As I stepped out feeling confident that no one could see me, there was the man from two houses down preparing his bin for collection. Fortunately, the green bin is tall enough that when you open the lid, it covers me up to just below my shoulders. What else could I do? Running back wasn’t an option because he would have spotted my dress fluttering around my legs. So, I lifted the lid slightly to cover myself and said, “Good morning.” He looked up and replied.

I was anxious about what exactly he had seen. For a few days afterward, I wore a blue shirt with my navy jacket, hoping that’s what he remembered seeing. I later asked his wife (they have since split) if she noticed anything, but she never said anything either way. When I spoke to him some time later as well, he remained silent too. So it seems I got away with it.