One of my new neighbors, Abe from the apartment next to mine, stopped by while I was moving in this afternoon and offered to show me his bedbug bites. I declined. But I can see it's going to be interesting here.
April 17, 2011
My building is like a Moroccan bazaar - noisy and multi-cultural, loud and a little dangerous. The Somalian neighbor across the hall invited me in for a beer. He said, "What's nice womans like you in place like this?"
There's a young, alcoholic woman living on the floor above, who confronted me on the way to the grocery store. She demanded to know where I was going and when I told her, she said, "You're lying! You're going to the liquor store." I think she wanted me to pick up something for her, since she could barely walk.
April 19, 2011
Today, Abe got up and got himself a job returning the grocery carts that haphazardly line our street like drunken sentinels. He started at a dollar a cart and now has worked his way up the corporate ladder to $2 per returned cart. He assures me he will soon pay back the $3 he borrowed from me. Life is just so good.
April 22, 2011
He pounded on the door to advise me to get plastic covers
for my couch to prevent the bed bug infestation here.
Yesterday, he showed up at my door to announce the dog down the hall was annoying him with barking. I hear the sporadic barking from what sounds like a large dog. So I’m not planning to confront the dog’s owner. I thought about telling Abe, “The dog’s barking doesn’t disturb me as much as the fact that you’re standing there wearing nothing but gold chains and underpants!”
April 27, 2011
When I had a car I worried about somebody dinging it. Now that I walk everywhere, I worry about somebody dinging me!
May 9, 2011
Met Nick, a security guard in C9 (third floor), who held my hand a little too long. He is a hoarder and the cause of the bedbug plague.
May 17, 2011
Bancruptcy court. Debt discharged. I hope to be able to live on my $689 Social Security benefits now.
May 25, 2011
Abe was sweeping the black rug in front of his apartment door, so that he can tell if anyone comes to his door by the footprints.
The young woman from down the hall came to my door to use my phone, because someone was trying to break in through her window. I called the police and when they came, they asked her if she knew the person breaking in. She said it was a woman who thinks my neighbor is "messing with her baby-daddy".
My neighbor, Luke, dropped by to share some food from his church food pantry. I was very touched by that.
August 1, 2011
My neighbor, Abe, told me today that he is keeping notes on all the bad people in the world and when he has filled up his cardboard box with them, he will take it to the Attorney General. So, you better watch out.
July 25, 2011
August 10, 2011I
When you live in the "hood", you have a street name. I have been informed my street name is Miss C. It could have been much worse, since my reputation for removing trespassers has made me pretty unpopular.
August 24, 2011
The man sitting next to me on the bus told me he has just been released from prison after 29 years and asked me to have dinner with him at his house.
August 25, 2011
So far, the biggest issues at MM have been, what can politely be called domestic disputes. Or as one tenant recently jailed for assault told me, "You know how married couples are. We're gonna have our little spats now and then." I guess so.
October 4, 2011
Today I saw a man who has been asked to leave this building twice for causing a disturbance and he informed me that it is a well-known fact (and barbershop topic) that I am a man-hater. Perhaps you will not be surprised when I say that I am not disappointed that this may cause the neighborhood men to avoid me.
October 21, 2011
A man came to look at an apartment today and brought his father, who asked me what kind of people live here. Taken aback, I told him people just like me. "Old people?", he asked.
October 25
Oh, Melrose Manor, only nine more days until no one knocks on my door at 10:30 PM to say he urgently needs to borrow $5.
November 1, 2011
And now the guilt begins. One of the tenants came by my apartment today and saw the packing boxes. She asked if I'm leaving and where I'm going and then said, "How can you leave me? I thought you were my friend. Who's going to help me?" That would have broken my heart if she had been sober when she said it. But she had locked herself out of her apartment and wanted me to let her in.
November 2, 2011
Minutes after this picture of my last night at Melrose Manor was taken, four police cruisers rolled up and started making arrests. Farewell.
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