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the oil slick II
Hemlocks & Oaks
Lately I haven’t been sleeping well, a side effect of the blood pressure medication I’m taking. I wake early in the morning, usually around 4:30-5 am with an extraordinarily dry mouth and tremendous thirst. I sleep with a pint glass full of water on the window side next to my bed so I don’t have to leave the warmth of my covers. Sunday morning I woke suddenly, either because of this dry mouth condition, or because my trusty, guard cat, “Little Kitty”, aka "Stinky", jumped off the bed when the man entered my bedroom. When I looked up, I saw him, 6-6’2”, standing at the foot of my bed starring at me. I screamed! Often in my dreams, when I’m scared, I go to scream but no sound comes out and I’m frozen with fear, but this time, the sound was alarming and I screamed “Get out!” over and over and over. It didn’t sound like my voice, it sounded like my mother’s shrill screaming. The man, who I recognized in the dark as one of my neighbors, seemed equally startled by my reaction and ran from the room saying “It's Ok! Ok! Ok! Ok!”.
I live two houses down from the “Loving care” assisted living center, and I see these broken people every day as they walk in front of my apartment, on their way to visit the Sunoco gas station across the street from my place. If they aren’t doing that, then they are walking the street in the dead of night, sometimes making their way to the Walmart store, some three miles from my house.
My neighbor, Brenda, is the one who coined the name “broken” people, because they look disheveled, and wander aimlessly, in their own world. They are mostly older, senile or retarded people, although we’ve seen a few younger kids stay there. I’ve had women in their 50’s and 60’s walk by me when I’m sitting in the yard, and 10 mins later they come around again, asking if I knew where they lived and if I would show them the way.
My neighbor, Tom, and I watch them in the summer time and have devised names for each of them. The one in my apartment was “Lurch” because he was tall, with a stooped back and he always looked like he has just come out of electro-shock therapy (see left). He’s in his 50’s, I think, and would stare at my bicycles when I work on them in the doorway. He’s very scary to wake up to first thing in the morning! The man that went into Tom’s apartment last summer, when Tom was in the shower, was “Hendrix” was a little guy who mumbled when he spoke and always wore the same tie-dyed shirt that featured Jimmy Hendrix. My neighbor Jan has come home to find them digging holes in her yard and Tom has spied “Gums” stealing black oil sunflower seed from my bird feeder. We still haven’t identified the one that was sleeping and eating pizza in Tom’s car, but now Tom is a bit more careful and locks it at night.
The handsome trooper, who met me after the incident, went with me to the assisted living center to identify my intruder. The nurse on call (different from the one that was sleeping when I originally called at 4:30 am) asked for a description of the man, and when I gave it to her, she looked him up in a book and showed me his photograph. She said that Lurch had been caught several times in other peoples houses. She implied that he was known for taking stuff but that he was altogether harmless. I had commented earlier to the officer that I thought “Lurch” was trying to steal my cameras because I found them in a place where I did not put them that evening. The trooper passed his report on to the Selinsgrove Police, who will be investigating the “break in” later today. I just called the police station for a follow up and the chief of police, (we have 5 cops) is working on it…I'm hoping to be able to broker some change in the way this home is managed.
As for getting a guard dog, instead of a “guard cat”, I think I’ll hold off. I would love to have a dog, but I know that my schedule is too much for the dependence of that kind of an animal. So, for now, I lock the door on the first floor and I lock the door 2 times on the second floor.
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1910 to 1930's Elick & Weiss Photos part 1 web.mov
1930s to 1950s Elick & Weiss Photos part 2.mov