A first

by Duf Anything and Everything

Yes it is 4:41 am, the morning I am leaving for PA, and I am doing a quick blog entry.

Last night somewhere around 8:30 I get a knock on the door.  It is my neighbor’s two children, neither of which have I spoken to in probably 2 months at least.  I open the door and the daughter starts in immediately, “My mom wants to know if you could watch Charlie (one of their 3 dogs) for 3 weeks in July”

The neighbor has this personality flaw where she prefers to send her children out as couriers when she wants something.  The request totally caught me off guard and luckily I stopped myself before I belted out “WHAT THE F?”

I told her I was out of town for four days but if her mom wants something she can come over and ask me in person. (so I can blast her verbally)  The kid said “oh we’ll pay you, we’ll pay you $100” as I was shutting the door.  I said I don’t care about the money.

I was besides myself with how outrageous this request was on so many levels.  I would have a hard time watching ANYONE’s dog for 3 weeks, not to mention someone that has made my life in our backyard such a pain in the ass for the last 6 months due to her laziness.  For her to request such a favor in those circumstances just blows my mind.  Once again doing it via a child’s request just threw raw gas on my inner fire.

Then there is the question of what about the other two dogs, the wonderful little chihuahuas whose shrieking barks are like nails on a chalkboard for me?  I wonder what the plan is for them?

Then I thought about is all of the claims of no money from across the fence.  I was told repeatedly that the purchase of a $40 citronella spraying collar had to be put off until the next paycheck because money was so tight.  Yet somehow, a 3 week vacation is now possible?

As I rolled these things through my head my anger just swelled.  I went back in the bedroom and told Ali as she was getting out of the shower.  Ali was shocked as I was that such a request would even be made but she didn’t get mad as I did.  In fact she tried to talk me down from my elevated level of distress.

I ranted for a good 10-15 minutes and dwelled on it for a damn good while longer, letting it prevent me from getting to sleep promptly and once again being on my mind this morning, obviously.  I have been rehearsing some of the lines I will use if the neighbor actually is brave enough to step foot in our house.  I have a feeling though if she isn’t able to close the deal via her kid couriers she will just look for another option.