-=(Sagien)=-

My Next Door Neighbors

Their lawn reminds me of the bush. Where I grew up.

When I first moved into this neighborhood with my family, the surrounding area was respectable. You didn't see two feet high lawns like you would in the jungles of Southeast Asia. This guy's lawn has blades of grass tall enough to easily hide predatorial cats. Panthers.

I remember walking through grass that tall. I was about 8 years old, in a third world nation, walking bare-foot and plucking at the weeds for something appropriate to put in my mouth. Kinda like them badass Japanese Asian types with the Raiden hats and the grass things sticking out of their mouths.

The Phoenix Saga

At this point in time, my credit was shot. I had an eviction under my name, and a handful of bank accounts I can never user again because of numbers associated with them going into the negatives.

Luckily, this time I had enough cash saved up so we had more than $20 in spending cash for the return bus ride to Phoenix.

It was a grand old time on that bus trip. Hurricane Floyd was about 2 hours behind us, the edges of the storm beating on the Greyhound.

I was trying to sleep while Kristin cackles on about how she wished for the storm with her witchcraft. Once we've reached Texas, the hurricane was far behind us, and sunshine and desert stretched out ahead of us. We arrived in Phoenix with no incident.

We stayed at the bipolar woman's apartment again. This time she got us enough room to live in. To spite them all, I remained unemployed. For two months. I didn't even bother looking for a job.

Meanwhile, Kristin kept going out with a gentleman she met online. I didn't think much of it, he was fat and she would never cheat on me.

Then, drama reared its ugly head. I call New Jersey after months of no communication. My mother had left the country. She's back in the Philippines, my grandfather was dying. I wanted to go home.

I had no money. I needed to be home.

Kristin talked to her friend from the internet. His name is Adam. Adam was more than happy to pay for my bus ride back. He even gave me $20 to spend on food on my way back.

Adam drove me to the bus terminal. Kristin didn't come along, she hated goodbyes. I told her I'd be back in a month. I had with me my cd player and my case full of CDs, and a change of clothing.

The bus wasn't showing up for another hour, and Adam had already left. So I sat, and I waited. And something didn't feel right. This trip back home was way too easy. I got up and refunded the ticket, ran outside and caught a cab back to the apartment.

"Oh shit, Mike's back," Karla said into the payphone she used to call her boyfriend as I came walking up. "What did you do to the ticket Adam bought you?"

I told her I cashed it in.

"Oh shit. Adam won't be happy. Adam didn't expect you to be back after a month. He certainly doesn't expect you back now."

I told her that that's what I figured.

"Kristin won't be back for hours. She's out with Adam. They'll be back later, I think." She's saying way too many words. The lithium must've kicked in.

So we waited. We waited for her to get back for the next 4 hours. We decided that Adam wasn't to find out that I was back. We were keeping his money, to pay for the phone.

And Kristin returned. Her mom argued that she wanted her to stay in. Kristin was adamant about going back out with "some of her things" to go back to Adam's place. The arguement was going nowhere.

Then I stepped out of hiding. Kristin's jaw dropped, the cigarette she was attempting to light hanging on her dry lips. She nods her head to her mother in agreement.

We had sex that night. It's been weeks.

Adam stalked us.

Karla's boyfriend was over more often. Things were looking great, we even had Thanksgiving dinner.

Adam stalked us.

Kristin and I would go to sleep, or listen to music, and Adam would be outside, having a good vantage point of our bedroom window.

Then I got sick of it.

One night he was tapping on Kristin's window. She usually opens it, tells him she can't go out, while I stayed out of sight. This evening, he wasn't taking no for an answer. So I showed myself.

"I knew it!" he yelled.

I told him to leave.

"Kristin said she wanted to be with me."

I informed him that I was the one she was fucking every night.

He ripped off the window's screen and threw it over the balcony. Then the police arrived. I never saw him again.

Christmas was nearing, and I was feeling very homesick. Karla has strayed from her drugs, spending the money she received from selling plasma at the VA hospital on nights out with her boyfriend instead. She's shifting back to her insane self.

Then the end happened. Karla declares that she's moving in with her boyfriend and that neither Kristin nor I were welcome. I called my mother.

On December 16, 1998, we boarded a plane to Baltimore, paid for by my parents. The first friendly face I saw when I stepped off the plane was that of my brother's.

Jose gave me a hug.

"So how was being the prodigal son?" he asked.

He never got his answer until now.

Posted by sagien at May 22, 2005 02:04 PM