Sad news from Eugene – our Frog is no longer with us. Old fart’s been around for years selling cheap joke books for a buck at different festivals and events. Most people don’t know he actually had a case argued in front of the State Supreme Court. Always wondered if that was gonna be me – peddling books one at a time for a buck at local fairs. So far that hasn’t happened yet.
Fall is here – finally. Cool weather sends morons scurrying south. My neighbors wake me, screeching about property crime and petty vandalism. At first, I ignored the noise, and the knocks at my door. Final insult was a poorly-written note into my mailbox that would have been better reserved for a Nextdoor post. It’s happened before, it’ll happen again – local cops call it a ‘shrug and a police report.’ Everyone involved needed a whack between the eyes with a ping-pong paddle.
The cats are content to stay indoors and frankly, so am I. Today’s a fraught day in American history and I’ll be glad when it’s over. Horror all around us – the ‘targeted attack’ or ‘attempted mass shooting’ at the Vancouver Mall to my north, for example. One dead and two wounded. Most people never heard about it. My anxiety disorder is supposed to be an abnormal reaction to danger and childhood trauma – sometimes it feels like my own personal security system and I’m glad to have it.
Rapscallions from the University have shortcutted their way through my neighborhood and it’s getting to be an annoyance. Discussions about not throwing trash or enjoying your music through headphones get teenage sociopolitical blather. It’s like the screeching neighbors – no point in trying to explain, it just ends in complaints.
I saw Rose Marie later that morning. “You get a note about that vandalism?”
“Of course. Idiots think I have nothing better to do than join their Neigh-boor-hood Watch.” She sipped tea in a cup I found in a flea market rummage bin, cursing them under her breath.
“I’m stealing that,” I wrote her ‘neigh-boor-hood watch’ down on a Post-it. “But it sounds a little cold-hearted.”
“Landladies can’t afford to care too much.”
RIP Frog – we love you – we’ll miss you.
