The Great Toter Heist mystery has been solved.

Last garbage day two of our near neighbors woke up to find their Recycle Toter Bins missing—and the alert went out. It had been a windy night, but these heavy toter things don't blow far, and nothing was noticed under any bushes or other shrubbery. So, putting all the pieces together, I immediately decided that the culprits were the undesirables who used to live around the block in the corner house—until they destroyed it. These guys are still attending classes at the U. (which in itself is a stain on the concept of so-called higher education), and are now parking their big trucks illegally in the neighborhood. These dudes are the kind of lowlife who would think nothing of stealing a toter from a one-legged, destitute, half-blind centenarian.

But today we learned that the robot arm on one of the new garbage trucks servicing our neighborhood was improperly calibrated. Instead of lifting the toters along our avenue and dumping their contents into the truck, it threw everything in—contents, along with the whole darn bin itself.

It looks like the hawk is back. It seems to be here about the same time each year. Is it migratory?