— Another man died on my floor today. Mo. 70. Diabetes.
— I’m sorry to hear that. Hard knowing a lot of old people. Sitting down with my dad for lunch today he said the words I most dread in the English language: I have to go to the bathroom.
— Ha!!! Oh papa
— It really is something you don’t want to hear — and for a while you don’t — and then you do. Do you have anything to say about your neighbor?
— Can I call you?
— Heh Ray
— Heh Sharon. So how’s it goin?
— His name was Mo and he was a pervert and a Somalian. He was actually related to another family down the hall, the one with the really smart eight year old I told you about.
— He was a pervert? What do you mean?
— When we were in the elevator together he’d say things like “I want to touch your body.”
— Really?
— I didn’t know him, we never really spoke, but he’s been on this floor for twenty years.
— Were you there when it happened?
— [INAUDIBLE] and they came in with the lights. (You know where my apartment is) and the girls went crazy of course
— Of course…
— We were saying we hoped it was Juanita, whom we love, but she’s started fires in her apartment five times now, five times. She’s my father’s age, but without the support, two sons that HATE her
— makes you sort of wanna move in….
— And what about that beautiful boy you’ve got? I loved the video you sent. So well behaved, such a gwood boy.
— Yeah, he’s so good, aren’t you, buddy?
— You could get laid a lot with a dog like that
— I, uh, I sometimes. That comes up. I mean I do sort of meet people. People will come up and say “wow, that’s a beautiful dog.”
— Yeah
— I imagine the gals don’t help in that respect
— Noooo, I come off as a cat lady. (What is our Vice President’s name again? Vance.)
— You probably couldn’t deal with a dog as well behaved as this, although he has his moments. I know you’ve told me you got the girls when you realized you weren’t going to have children, but what exactly is the mechanism there? How are they a replacement?
— To get me out of of the house basically, though honestly I’d have probably been doing that anyway. Before I got them I did a lot of running. Eight miles a day, running half marathons or training for them.
— What kind of mile do you run?
— Nine.
— What kind of shoes?
— Hoka.
— And all this running was about Klemm?
— Yes this was my psycho ex-husband and his cult
— I’ll say that for a long time I resisted running simply because it had been so important to Klemm. But when I quit smoking it began to make sense. And so why do you think you never remarried… I was just following a train of thought there and actually do know the answer to that, I think: there was the guy who got away and the guy who let you down.
— That about sums it up
— I’ve gotta say it’s a little hard to see how it would work with you and another person, you’re so independent, you’re so involved in that neighborhood. It’s a little hard to see how another person… You’re never leaving that apartment.
— He would have to live nearby.
— On the other hand your existence is fairly grim. I mean you’ve talked to me a few times now about how the neighborhood’s been letting you down. The man spitting in your eyes
— that was a little outside my neighborhood
— the student who assaulted you
— again, that’s Bayridge, but I know what you’re saying. I’m the caregiver in this situation.
— You doing anything tonight? You must be pretty exhausted
— Nope
— Of course, you could never live in the suburbs, but have you ever thought about moving to California? I can see it
— I have actually! My brother and his wife keep asking me to move out where they are in San Diego. They feel sorry for me.
— They feel actually sorry for you?
— Well, they feel sorry for me and they envy me, because I’m alone.
— Uh huh. Well listen Sharon, I could talk all night but I’ve got three emails I need to write. Now don’t sound so surprised: one of them is for you and I think we’ve already given each other something to think about. So give my love to the girls
— Goodnight, Ray
— Goodnight
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 