Cowboy blues There's an intense drama going on at our neighbor's house (this is the only good thing about living in the city, as far as I can tell, besides the abundance of great restaurants and OMSI). I've never spoken to the woman, but her boyfriend was (is) awfully nice. We spoke a few times, he helped my mom chip the ice off the walk with a pickaxe the day Monkey came home so that I wouldn't slip carrying her in. Anyhow, they have been together for 11 years or so. She's like 44 and he's about 10 years younger, I think. She has a 14-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome; the short bus comes for her every school day. So the guy comes over the other day and says "Well, it's been nice living next to you" and we say, "What, are you moving?" and he starts off on this tyrade about how she woke him up at 3 a.m., saying that she's been sleeping with someone else they're trying to have a kid (at 44!!) etc. The delivery of this in-depth info is a bit of a surprise to my husband and me, because, although the guy is nice and everything, I don't think we even know his name; but, of course, he just wants to exact revenge on his ex by turning the neighbors against her. So, what do you say? "Oh, we're sorry, that really sucks", etc. It does really suck, though, because the guy obviously loves her daughter a lot, he's always out in the yard with her and taking her places. So he leaves and immediately her new boyfriend shows up: a big fat beer-bellied buff motherfucker in a sawed-off Gold's Gym t-shirt and a bandanna. I mean, not to make judgments or anything, but judging this book by its cover this guy won't be softhearted towards this lady's retard daughter or anything. He doesn't even look like he would slow down to avoid hitting a housecat with his jeep. And so this morning the poor ex-boyfriend drove by, a "for sale" sign on his country-music-sticker-bedecked truck. The new boyfriend's jeep is parked in the lady's yard, you dig. So the ex parks on the side street and just sits there looking for a second and I'm hiding behind a house plant peering out the window saying "look, he's stalking her". And my husband says "It wasn't really love if you don't stalk 'em for a while". Which, really, is true. So cheers to you, poor ex-boyfriend man who's name I forget. |