A few weeks ago, one of my classmates was at my apartment and we decided to make dinner. Well, we needed 2 pans, but of course I only had one small pan, so I thought, this is a good way to get to know my neighbor. It was the middle of the week, around 8pm, so I figured that someone should be home. I knocked on all of the doors on my floor...nobody answered. I then proceeded to go up one level and knock on a few doors on the fifth floor. I was getting ready to just go out and buy a pan when the final door I knocked on I heard a faint "hello"...
"Hi, this is Kamilah, I live on the 4th floor and I was wondering if I could borrow a pan," I yelled through the door. I hear all sorts of shuffling around. He opens the door. It's an older gentleman in his late 60's or 70's probably. I repeated my speech and he says just a minute and closes the door partway and disappears. I peaked into the apartment and am literally floored. Years and years of paperwork, nicknacks, junk, etc cover practically every inch of the apartment from floor to ceiling. All the shuffling I heard was him having to maneuver stacks of crap so he could open the door and move around the apartment. I hear all sorts of noises as he is rumbling around the apartment. A good 2 or 3 minutes later he comes back and he is carring a ballpoint pen!
Oops. Some sort of communication breakdown. I said, "Oh I am sorry, I guess you didn't hear me, I need a frying pan." At this point, he is sweating and just shakes his head and closes the door.
New York can be a very isolating city if you let it. It looked like years and years of accumulation and him not throwing anything away and also him running out of space. How does it get that bad? I can't imagine living like that!
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6 comments:
Ok, that is frightening. The best part of the story however, is that he came with a pen!
Oh man, how sad. He is totally one of those old men in the city you hear about all holed up in their rent controlled apartment and well you know how it ends... perhaps you will be the one to smell him one day. SAD.
It's these kinds of things that happen to other people that make me try just a little bit harder every day to NOT give up. There but for the grace of God go I???
(All you young girls, hard as it is to imagine, one of these days you'll be 50-something!)
this story is hilarious! I can totally see your face as all this is happening, so funny!
I'm dying again..where do you get such great stories. Love it. although...when you think about it, it is quite sad. Morbid Amy!!
LOL...LOL
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