With a Twist

The PuMan (remember him? I hardly do) would probably dispute me on this, but oh, what ironic happenings are occurring in my neighborhood.

Remember the good for nothing neighbor boy who shot a BB through my guest room window? His parents are supposed to pay for the damages. The father came by a few weeks ago to inspect the window and semi-apologize (not sure what the exact odds are of accidental firings resulting from kids arguing over possession of the gun that just happen to aim upward and directly onto the neighbor's window). Since the father had said (actually, he penned notes to us, which he pinned to our door... not the most effective communicator in the world) that he'd like to bring someone by this week to take out our window, Mother called today to check up on the process. The scoundrel's mother picked up. Apparently, everything is up in the air. Her husband (dirtbag's father) has suffered a nervous breakdown.

When Mother broke this to me, I laughed. The timing and everything about the news just seemed so absurd. Though I have noticed that that is not how most people take the news. People seem to either be upset by the delays or feel bad for the man suffering a nervous breakdown (how are you reacting?). But how ironic that the person most shaken (and stirred) is not the people whose house was actually fired upon, who can't be sure if their neighbors are racist, stupid, or just hate this specific Chinese family but feel unsafe either way- no, we're fine- but it's the guy paying his brother-in-law to fix the windows. And how ironic that it happens this week, right when our window was finally supposed to be fixed? I expected hassles along the way and for things to be on the rocks with the neighbors, but who'd ever expect a nervous breakdown to slow things down? In this age of starlets, jail, and rehab, it's almost refreshing that the neighbor took the more classic and restrained approach and had a nervous breakdown his wife felt comfortable sharing with neighbors.