It may not have been as dramatic or funny as the movie, but the story of a 10-year-old girl who was home alone when burglars broke in does have a happy ending.
Paityn Mock was sick from school at her house at the end of a rural road in Camas, Wash., when she heard the doorbell ringing repeatedly. With her mother, Jenn Mock, about six miles away picking up a sandwich to bring back, she immediately remembered what she'd been taught: Never answer the door for anyone except her mom, dad or grandma.
The girl called her mother, who hurried to get back. But soon, an intruder cut through a window screen at the back of the house and walked to the front door to open it for two others, according to an account in the Columbian. Paityn slipped into the pantry to hide and called 911.
“I’m at my house, my mom’s at the grocery store and someone got into my house,” Mock told the dispatcher, according to an ABC News report. He asked Paityn if she could safely sneak out of the house, but when she tried she saw a man in blue jeans and a T-shirt in the living room and she heard him talking to the other two.
“OK, now I actually know they’re planning something so I was pretty scared,” Mock told ABC News.
With the help of the dispatcher, the girl -- who can be heard breathing heavily on the 911 recording -- snuck out into the front yard and hid behind a tree. Ten minutes later, her mother arrived.
“Mommy! Mommy! No! Don’t go in there,” Paityn, who later said she feared the men were armed, can be heard yelling on the 911 call.
Mock went inside just as police arrived. They arrested one man but two others got away. The man in custody is said to be cooperating with investigators.
Hailed by local media as having "nerves of steel," Paityn put on a stoic face.
"I felt really nervous and scared," she told the Columbian. "But I didn't exactly pour (cry) my eyes out."