Sometimes it pays to ignore the voices coming through your door, especially if you live in an apartment building with neighbors on either side of you.
As I was leaving for work one morning, I glimpsed the new neighbor moving in next door to me. My first thought was…why me?
At first, all I could see was the form of a woman, bent over a box as she dragged it towards her new dwelling place. I continued down the hall and when I rounded the corner of the hallway going towards the bank of elevators, I happened to look back and made eye contact with “the Exorcist” or so my mind yelled. She had angry dark eyes, thick, penciled on brows and bright red circles painted on high cheek bones. The sight of her gave me a chill that accompanied me into the elevator; a chill I wore like a shroud for the rest of that day.
Arriving home that evening, I made a quick salad for my dinner and just as I sat down to eat there was a knock at the door. I opened it and stared into that garish face...the mouth moving as words of introduction spilled out.
“I am your new neighbor…” she started explaining and it took her the better part of a half hour before she finished. By that time, I was in possession of her entire life story and a salad that lay limp on my plate. I dumped it into the garbage and had sandwich instead.
The next morning, she was waiting for me by the elevators. When she saw me approaching, she began spewing questions at me.
“I know you're a nurse…could you…?”
No “good morning”…no nothing. She launched right into her list of requests. A polite “sorry…” was what she got in answer as I boarded the elevator, watching the doors close me in and her out.
Arriving home that evening…there she was.
Does this woman rent the hallway?
She was holding a bloodied thumb out to me and screaming that she was hemorrhaging. I asked her if she had a bandage.
Why did I even open my mouth?
Before I knew it, she grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall towards her apartment. At this point, I thought it easier to just follow her inside rather than come up with a list of reasons why not. She showed me an arsenal of first aid equipment…bandages in every size and description, solutions, ointments, you name it…she had it! I cleaned her thumb, applied a bandage and sent her off to the hospital for a Tetanus shot.
A few more episodes popped up where she needed a helping hand. Now…don't' get me wrong, I am not against helping anyone but she has decided that it was my lot in life to serve her needs above all else! I found myself looking around the corner when I got off of the elevators to be sure the coast was clear before making a mad dash to my apartment; quietly opening and closing my door. In the end I asked her...very politely, to LEAVE ME ALONE! She did and there was peace on earth once again…until the fire!
The alarm woke all of the tenants out of a deep sleep. In my training, I knew that if there was no heat on the other side of the door, it would be safe to block the door with towels to keep the smoke out and stay inside until the firefighters arrived.
Trick-a-treat…the name I gave my neighbor because of her clown-like makeup, was standing in the hallway, screaming and pounding on my door. When she ignored my yelled instructions to go back inside her apartment, I had no recourse but to open the door and yank her inside, an action that allowed the black, acrid smoke swirling through the hallway to enter my apartment and my lungs.
Trick-a-treat was hysterical and wanting to leave the building. She kept yelling that she didn't want to die. I tried a number of ways to calm her down and failing, decided that I could do nothing more but to get her outside. Down the emergency staircase we went…me in my tattered tee shirt, plaid boxers, hair all over my head, and broken down runners...are you getting this visual? Laugh you may but when you sleep alone, comfort is what I'm after!
In the lobby, the finest, sexiest firefighters in the city were escorting the evacuating tenants out of the main entrance. I asked one of them if it would have been safe to stay inside. I know what he must have been thinking when he looked at my attire; he hid his laughter well when he said that it would have been better if we did. I looked over at my nemesis clinging to my arm and, summoning all of my willpower, disentangled myself and walked away from her…putting a finger to my lips to shush her when she started to speak.
It was another three hours of standing in my “undies” out in front of my building on a busy work day before I was allowed to return to my apartment. I showered, washed my hair and was heading out the door when my neighbor called out to me from her opened door. She was appalled that I didn't take the day off to clean my apartment of the damage from the smoke. I told her that I would deal with it when I got home. I waved goodbye and went to work
She was waiting for me…how did she put it?
“You saved me and now I owe you my life!”
She followed me when I turned around and walked back towards the elevator…trying to escape.
”Let me clean your house…what can I do for you…you must let me do something for you…” she went on and on as the doors closed her out before she could step inside. I leaned my head against the elevator wall, closed my eyes and sighed…why me?
©February 2003 Jozette Aaron
