My neighbor, J., interrupted my work on my fountain on Saturday with a tale of intrigue and menace. It seems that while I ran out mid-afternoon to get some part for my project, a car (to be specific, a small black SUV) festooned with bumper stickers celebrating Colombia pulled up and parked across the street from the house next to mine. According to J. a man remained in the SUV while two women emerged and looked around suspiciously. One of them carried a menacing and large knife. They crossed the street and went to the house of our neighbor. He is an elderly man in failing health and hasn't actually been home for the better part of two weeks -- spending time in the hospital and then with his daughter convalescing.
At this point J. felt compelled to approach the duo and ask if he could help them. He reported that they didn't appear to speak English and that he felt threatened "scared shitless" by the way the one held the knife. They retreated to the SUV and all three drove off.
Well, what the hell was I to make of his tale? Honestly? J. is a reluctant racist. He sees non-whites as threats...and, even acts leery around whites who weren't born in New England!
I asked him why he didn't just call the police. I would have -- Nobody up to an honest endeavor carries a butcher's knife in a peaceable neighborhood in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon. They are either crazy or criminal.
J. also has a tendency to present a world of his own creation that sort of says: "Hey, look at me! I'm a victim." It's a kind of white-centric-male-Munchausen's-Syndrom minus the child as victim. And still I can't completely discount the possibility that someone was up to no good....
So I guess I'm left with only one option: Take up Kickboxing! Wish me well!
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