Last Thursday, after a long week last week, I was saddened to hear from Ricky (9 yrs old) that our neighbor had passed away in her home that day. That was too bad, I didn’t really know the lady and she was in the other half of the duplex from Ricky, so that was a bit odd.
But I was real excited it was Friday because I don’t work Fridays! YEY! Jonah had been sleeping poorly, and Friday morning at 6:45 I was stoked he was still asleep (in my bed next to me, but asleep). He even slept through Beulah bounding out of bed when someone knocked on our door at 6:45 am. He also slept through me letting Beulah bark as I creeped around the front room on my knees peering out the blinds at the unrecognizable people in dark clothing that were on my porch and at my gate. I opted to not answer the door. Unfortunately my front door was unlocked because Dusty had just left for work, but they didn’t try the knob so I locked it very very quietly after they walked toward the gate. Jonah was fussing by this time, and I didn’t see where they went when they left because I had to rush back into my bedroom. Probably a good thing since I had managed to set a pillow on Jonah’s face when getting up and he wasn’t too happy about that. I spent the rest of the morning until the sun came up in Jonah’s room on the back of the house because I didn’t want to turn on any lights until the sun woke up too. I didn’t know where my visitors had gone.
Jonah was sick all day so I pretty much spent the day trying to get him to sleep. Saturday was the same. He didn’t have a fever so I figured it was either a growth spurt or those nasty teeth that are coming in, seemingly three at a time on the top gum. Because he hadn’t been sleeping I decided to do some “time trials” in North Salt Lake. This involved me testing how long it takes to get from various locations in North Salt Lake or Bountiful to my work downtown. I drove for over an hour and Jonah slept peacefully the whole time! YEY!
When we got home, our neighbor William (name changed to protect his identity) was on our couch talking to Dustin. I noticed that the $50 Dusty had gotten earlier that day from his boss for some side jobs he does was sitting on our entry table. So, upon entering I casually set my purse on top of the cash. William is that kind of a friend.
William was a bit down on his luck, explaining how his sister has taken the family money and left him to care for his ailing mother who, when drinking fifths of scotch, tells William he is just like his father. William, usually drunk and exuberant, explained that not only is he a trained musician, but a schooled chef! He had, after all, recently wooed the owners of the Metro Cafe (the drug front that poses as a hamburger joint by our house that is occasionally open) but their only replies to the wondrous hamburgers he had created was “William, we cannot afford you.”
Despite his lack of a job, William has a positive outlook and has high hopes for the neighborhood. He wanted lots of kids to move in because families are how this street is going to get back on its feet. In fact, William cares so much about his neighborhood that he has all of our backs. He watches out for all of us, actually. A sort of “protection for hire” actually. I mean, of course he does this for free because he cares about the community. But in a way, he is the reason we are all safe.
Because of William’s dedicated effort to our neighborhood and all the many things that he does for us that go unrecognized, and because a good man was down on his luck for years and years due to no fault of his own, Dusty obliged him with the $10 to buy the dead lady’s tv that her caring husband was selling on the lawn in front of the house.
William had one more problem. A few moments later he knocked and asked if “I might borrow your hand truck.” After realizing what a hand truck is (it’s a dolly) Dusty let him borrow it and helped him push the 1960’s television in a big wooden built-in across the street to his house. However, Dusty was a bit curious “how did you know we had a hand truck in the garage, William?” “Some call it snooping. I, however, call it keeping an eye on friends.” Dusty withheld the urge to give William more money for his increased protection services.
Jonah finally napped well on Sunday and I could tell he felt a lot better. I was thrilled and actually got a few things done around the house. We went to a superbowl party for a minute, but had to leave as Jonah is not ready for Superbowl cheering yet. When Jonah and I got home, our neighbor Rosa was in her yard, along with her whole family. I stopped to chat and she told me they had come home to someone trying to steal their trampoline. Diego and Ricky helped piece the story together for me since my Spanish isn’t perfect, and apparently the dead lady’s husband not only sold her television, but thought he’d also sell the trampoline. Unfortunately, the trampoline didn’t belong to the dead lady; it was Ricky’s. The argument was settled and the trampoline was reassembled in Ricky’s yard despite the woman I could hear but not see screaming “My daughter paid good money for that trampoline.”
After checking to be sure the bicycles were still there, Ricardo and Rosa and I chatted about the kids and how fast they all grow up. I am not sure where William was when the trampoline debacle was going down, he must have been off duty that day.
I mentioned the 6:45 am visitors I had received on Friday and Rosa indicated they had also gone to her house and to another house on the street. They were looking for information about the lady who had passed away. Apparently they had just heard the news and were really upset. Obviously so upset they thought 6:45 was an appropriate time to knock on doors.
I can imagine it was upsetting to them, though. Imagine if you visited someone at 6 am nearly every day for the last year to purchase your crack and one day they just up and OD’d on you? I can imagine how distraught you would be.
Dead lady’s husband is hauling truckloads of items away from their property and now we all have our eyes on him to ensure our property doesn’t mistakenly make its way to the back of his truck as well.
Jonah is feeling much better today and we all slept really well last night.
I plan on tiling the fireplace all by myself friday and saturday… NO MATTER WHAT. Hear that, Jonah? NO MATTER. 
