Lend Me Your Arm

Ron had wanted to get security bars on the windows so that we could rid ourselves of the alarm system. At first I was resistant, but now with summer here, I am loving having the windows open all day without worries. I can airily leave the kitchen and our bedroom windows open when going out not having fears of anyone being able to invade the place...

At 11pm, last night while watching television, I had this urge for dessert, so I headed down to one of the gyro places to get some rice pudding. When I returned, as I was unlocking the door, there was an older guy standing behind me staring at the buzzers. He looked like the guy who lives on the ground floor, so I thought he was waiting for me to open the door or get out of the way. After he followed me in, he went to the mailboxes and I went to the elevator, but never heard any noise from the mailboxes, like one opening and closing. As I am riding up on the elevator, I had a creepy feeling and was glad to be inside the apartment.


The rice pudding was worth the trip, but as I continued to watch television, I noticed that the sensor light by our front door kept going on and off, which made me suspicious. Then I heard a noise, so I went to investigate. 


As I got closer to the door, the light had gone out again, so I guessed one of my neighbors had walked by previously or they had a late night guest; this would have been strange since all lights were out when I had returned with the pudding. I am standing in front of my door when suddenly the sensor light is triggered again. Facing me is a young man with his arm through the window of my door and his hand on the door handle. We are now staring at each other with enough light to make both of us recognizable, but he does not stop attempting to open the door. I yelled "What are you doing?" He responded with "Claudia", but they pronounce it CLOUDIA. I am thinking, if Claudia did live here, would you break into her apartment? Ever hear of a doorbell?

He turned to look to the side and seemingly was speaking to another person, but I was not going to open the other window to see who he was speaking to. He kept up his charade like he really thought there was a Claudia here and could not imagine how he could have misplaced her. Now, that I think back, there have been numerous times when the sensor light has gone on and off while I thought I had heard noises at the door. Thankfully, we are obedient about locking the door when the window is open. I don't think he was Hungarian; he looked very similar to the other immigrants who have opened multiple restaurants on the street. 


I was so paranoid, I barely slept last night. 

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Procrastinators Anonymous

My brother ranks high in the list of world's greatest procrastinators. He has thought about attending meetings of Procrastinators Anonymous, but they keep putting off having a meeting. Two weeks ago, he called to give us an update on our father's condition. We had a conference call so that Ron, his wife, and I could all listen in. At the time, he shared the news about his venture over to dad's house to get something and found people in the house. They presumably were given permission to crash there by our father. Kevin, I believe had them leave, but then again, Kevin is not the assertive one in the family. He is a chip off of our father, I am more like our mother. My immediate reaction was to get the locks changed and he agreed. There are three entrances to the house. One will only get you into the front porch, another into the basement, and the third into the outer pantry leading to the backyard. After entering any of these areas, there is still another door to negotiate before entering living space. All six doors have locks on them. Our mother was paranoid. Our father used to work nights. Changing locks can be expensive, but hey, the old guy has $40,000 he needs to spend down to be eligible just to apply for Medicaid. Kevin has the power of attorney to access his funds. No brainer. Off of the dining room, there is a wasted little room that never was declared utilitarian because is lacked a radiator or heating vent. The whole time we were growing up, the old chest freezer lived in there and the rest of the space was a throw-all junk room. When we moved our things from CA, this was cleaned out and stores our life belongings, minus all of the furniture we sold. Mostly, it has our kitchen appliances, china, thousands of books, and memorabilia from dozens of trips abroad. Our thinking at the time was after a year away, at least our kitchen will not need to be restocked with essentials. The padlock on the door survived seven years of having the scheming slut whore who stole thousands from dad during her days of leeching off of him. Kevin said the door was barricade with the china cabinet, a formidable piece of furniture. At the end of the call, we all agreed to speak each Wednesday for updates on dad's condition. We were still waiting for the neurological report due the day after this call. The next Wednesday, I e-mailed Kevin about calling. He responded with "Nothing has changed, no need to call." Nothing about the report and a follow-up e-mail was not responded to. The following Wednesday, I wrote again, but did not get a response until that Friday. Giving him his due, he is a manager at an IT company, from what I gather is head of an extensive team, so does have a lot on his plate. Adding the needs of our father is a burden that he has to deal with with little help from me.

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