I Suck At Meeting My Neighbors

On Friday, my friend (Christine) came by for a visit. Like everyone, she came more to visit our newborn daughter (Briana) than to see either Karen or I. As this week happened to be school vacation week, Christine was able to stop on by. (For anyone curious, Christine is a teacher.)

Unfortunately, I was not so lucky to have the day off. I still had to work. But, I did get to see and hang out with Christine for a little while. I got to hear Christine's interesting date story which involved the guy's sibling who accompanied them on their third date. Even though Christine thought it was a little peculiar, she seems happy so far with the relationship. That's good.

Anyway, while I was hanging out with Karen and Christine, Karen noticed that our new neighbor was introducing herself to our other neighbors. Now, I suck at meeting my neighbors. So of course, Karen had me go out and introduce myself (as Karen herself was afraid to go out and introduce herself).

Luckily, the mail had just been delivered. So using the guise of picking up the mail, I casually strolled outside, waved and introduced myself to the new neighbor who was talking with my neighbors (Helen and George). Apparently, my new neighbors are Cheryl and her son, Steve, who are temporarily renting the place.

A couple of days ago, Helen and George had noticed a police car parked out in front of Cheryl's house. They thought it was strange, as did my other neighbor (Jeff) who noticed the police car. They were curious if the new neighbors were shady delinquents or something like that. (Interestingly enough, the previous neighbor was shady. There was a warrant out for her arrest, or something like that. Who knew?) And heaven forbid a shady character living in Norwell! I thought I was bad by being the only minority in Norwell. Just kidding.

Anyway, neither Karen nor I saw the police car. I guess we were just too busy being cooped up in our house taking care of Briana. As it turned out, the reason the police car was next door was because Cheryl had hired some shady movers through Craigslist. Cheryl had called the police because the movers were essentially extorting money from her. The movers would not deliver her furniture and such until she paid them upfront, but she wanted to pay them when they actually showed up and delivered her furniture.

Well, the movers finally did show up at night. During the move, however, they destroyed a lot of the furniture. The police officer watched as the movers brought all of the furniture into the house. Apparently, the police officer also ran the license plate of the mover's vehicle. The license plate was legit, but it belonged to another vehicle (a fact that was not discovered until after the movers drove away).

For me, the worst part was hearing that the movers stole Cheryl's medication during the move. Cheryl, apparently, is a cancer patient. Stealing medication is bad... stealing medication from a cancer patient... awful. But apparently some people need to resort to theft. It's very unfortunate. Subsequently, the Craigslist posting has been removed. The movers have disappeared without a trace, leaving Cheryl unable to file a lawsuit or take any legal action. It was a very bizarre story. Needless to say, Helen, George and I were surprised to hear the story.

And to think, the introductions started off so differently. Upon meeting me, Cheryl asked if I were a Native (American). I thought that was a little comical because I'm not. Although, my friend (Dixon) had thought at one time that I would make a great school mascot (Yakoo). For anyone curious, our school mascot was a Native American caricature of an Armenian dentist. Yeah, it's strange. Don't ask. And in case you are curious, I never was the mascot... although I probably would have enjoyed being the mascot.