Control

I wanted to leave the house today for a walk but it was really too hot.  I am feeling restless and tired from the heat and from my neighbor's existence.

I have a downstairs neighbor who dislikes my mom and myself.  Why?  I don't know.  He got a free washer that we couldn't get fixed.  We are nice to his dogs.  We try to be mindful of our noise.  He does not like us.  I am a little afraid of him at times.

It started when he got asked about why he didn't shovel.  Well maybe it was before that and we didn't know it.  We had a bad February and I fell twice by the garage.  Hard.  So my 80 something mother asked him when she went out to clean up what snow I couldn't after I pulled out the shovel and tried to shovel the steps.  He told her it was too cold and laughed.  When she shared her concern about the city getting upset, he went off on a tirade about how I parked my car in the garage.  That was the end of any neighbor friendliness.  We wound up buying salt ourselves and taking care of part of the walk and by the garage after that.  He has barely shoveled since last winter.

The height of his mania came one morning when I could hear him screaming at his dogs not to eat something on the sidewalk.  His dogs are hyper but I like them both. I feel sorry for who they live with in all honesty.  

As I walked to the kitchen, I could hear him screaming F-ing C you next Tuesday.  It was just ugly.  He screamed not to feed his dogs.  It was directed to my mom and I.  I was shook after I heard him slam the door viciously five or six times.  

My mom confronted him one day and actually brought up the washer we gave him.  Another tenant had used our appliances and broke them.  I sunk $300 of bonus money into getting it fixed and my poor mom wound up charging another washer.  He panicked and said he wanted to keep the washer.  He just hadn't had time to work on it.

No apology?  Maybe a muttered one after my mom asked him what we did wrong.  She offered an olive branch to start over and asked him to come to us if there is a problem.

He has been friendlier when I've passed him with the dogs.  I'm not ok with him.  When you throw out those ugly words you can't help but think, that's what he thinks of me.  And my mom.  I can't fake the niceness.  

He was fixated on our side door light.  We only have one door.  He has two doors and obsesses over our light.  We suspect that was part of the tirade when we marked it upper and put tape over it so he would quit turning it off.  He started to write the C word on it after his tirade.

Any time I see him, I just want him to go away.   Go move to a neighborhood where people yell filthy names.

That's part of the reason I walk on the east side on the weekends.  I need to get away from him.  I do love Lake Michigan, but still. I like to pretend I live in a nicer and safer neighborhood. I do love my home, but he's made me hate my neighborhood.  I don't want to be around someone like that.  

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