Writer's Workshop was right up my alley this week.
I don't know if you know this or not MamaKat, but the neighbor nusiance is a touchy subject on
my street and in my family, and it has been for about...15 years now.
***
We live on a cute, used-to-be quiet, cul-de-sac.
I know every one of my neighbors names, and most of their birthdays.
We have all babysat each other's kids, helped with gardening, loaded in furniture, borrowed cups of sugar, flour, what have you...
But that family on the corner...
When they moved in... something wasn't right.
They had two cute little boys, I was pregnant with William when they moved in.
They seemed like a nice, normal, just starting out couple, then day turned into night.
The wife was extremely anti social, and was and is a TERRIBLE "Not my baby boys" Mama.
Those two terrors could do no wrong in her eyes.
About a month after they moved in, their boys were making themselves at home in my mini orchard, throwing my oranges and lemons at the neighbors dog.
They would torment cats, and I once caught them skinning a bird on their sidewalk.
The makings of demon's... all the way.
Mom didn't work, and Dad stayed up till all hours of the night "Playing basketball" with his boys.
So at 1 a.m., we heard "bounce, bounce... horraaaayyyy!, bounce, bounce."
There was a lot of fighting in the driveway of their house.
Dad lost his job a lot, because his employers, (call them crazy) didn't appreciate a DRUNK and STONED employee. He was in a training program for a major restaurant chain.
After the Dad wrapped a couple of cars around some telephone polls, and did a little time in the slammer... I'm guessing some conjugal visits were in order, because Mama got pregnant with not one... but TWO girls.
The neighbors and I went to the shower, and listened to all the complaining about them not having enough food, how hard it was for them to make ends meet... all the while, she is chain smoking. Hmmm... cigarettes cost money... don't they?AND.... SHE WAS PREGGERS!
Class.
We all bought her beautiful things, not a Thank you one was given, and then... for about a year after that... the Mama came to me and my neighbors doors asking for money, usually about $40 was her asking price. We gave... and never expected to see the money again...she probably got about $500 out of us...we felt badly for her, she had new twins, and her husband was a deadbeat.
Many of us were anonymously leaving her bags of groceries in the middle of the night, so they would have food.
They didn't have a house payment, the house is owned by the Dad's Father, they didn't have cars, because the Dad kept trying to make roads where there shouldn't be.
They didn't have custody of their two boys, the Dad's Father did.
They did NOT fit in the demographic of our community, nor our neighborhood.
We were all families, with kids, mostly stay at home Mom's, with hubbies that worked for a living, RV's, Vacations, block parties, the kids used to put on bike shows in the summer...it was great...
Until their children started to get older.
The girls became thieves. and liars, and Mama's little beggars.
I won't go into great detail about what the boys are into, but they dropped out of high school last year, and have gone into 'RETAIL SALES' of the herbal variety.
If you catch my drift.
Things have quieted down recently... but we've all seen this before.
***
We... no surprise... have had NUMEROUS confrontations with them.
Their girls have thrown rocks at my boys' heads while my boys were riding bikes, and when my oldest was about 5, their boys would throw out wood and rocks at my sons tires to make them trip and skid. 5 years ago, when Johnny and Alex were playing basketball for a league, the Mom and Dad would show up and LOUDLY and CRUDELY call my kids out and scream
"YOU ARE LOSERS! ALEX, JOHNNNY.... LOSER, LOSER, LOSER!"
Yes, the PARENTS of the kids were doing that.
They were escorted out... but the damage was done... and so was I.
***
When I confronted her 5 years ago as to why she feels the need to be like that...
she said...
"You and your family think you are soooo much better than us! You need to mind you own business and realize that kids will be kids, and you don't need to come over and complain about the things my boys do to your boys... just let it be!... You are gonna raise wusses."
To which I replied...
"Hey, lady, I've done nothing but give and give and give to you and your family. You have stolen electricity and cable from your neighbors, your kids get drunk at age 12, you have music that plays at decibels unknown at 3 a.m., your kids are hoodlums... and we are just supposed to look the other way?"
She flipped me off, and told me I'd better never be alone in my house.
Jump to August 2008, when her boys were drunk and running up and down the street screaming at the top of their lungs at 1 a.m. saying they were gonna kill themselves...
I called the cops.
The 14 yr old was arrested.
THEY GAVE MY PHONE NUMBER to the parole officer.
So when the parole officer called me to ask why the little darling missed his appointment, I was wondering who the heck she was talking about!
I called the owner of the house, the Father in Law, and filled him in on what his genius daughter in law did.
He confronted her, SHE CAME TO MY HOUSE... and threatened mine and my childrens lives,
telling me she was gonna kill us... she didn't know when... she didn't know how... but I had better watch myself, because she was going to get to me through my kids.
Yeah, I called the cops again.
AND got a restraining order on her and her vermin family.
Daddy was taken to jail for possession in March, and Mama was arrested two weeks later, but they are both back in the house, pretending they are a stand up family.
***
The other night, he got busted for smoking more "herbs" at the baseball park.
I almost wet my pants from laughing so hard. They had to walk right past my Snack Shack to leave the premises.
I smiled and waived...
She flipped me off...
She is a class act... all the way... her parents must be so proud...
***
I love how peaceful I feel when I am making something. I love how I can think of her when I am working on a piece. It's the only piece of her I am able to hold on to... and it's a precious gift, and I keep it alive so I can feel just a tiny bit closer to a Grandmother I never really got to know very well... When I am stitching, I can remember bringing my little blankets I was making in grade school to her house when we visited, and how proud she would be, and all the face grabbing and face kissing and looking at my tiny, perfect stitches, and her pride... A couple of times, we would sit and crochet together, on her plastic covered couch. She didn't understand one word I said, and I didn't understand her Sicilian dialect, I spoke Calabrese, but we bonded over yarn... even for a short time... it was precious.
