No Escape

Yesterday was Bingo Friday.

Something told me there was a likelihood Talker would be babysitting my little Indian Giver Stalker and thus she’d bring granddaughter with her to bingo. That thought made me not want to attend.

Instead of skipping bingo altogether, I came up with a plan.

The plan was to first walk by the room with the rent check in hand, quickly scan the room and, if I saw my little stalker, I’d drop off the rent check then keep going — exit the side door, go run errands out of the area instead.

I did that — first walking by the door, glancing through while trying not to be obvious, didn’t see Talker or granddaughter so, after dropping the check into the rent slot, I returned and walked into the Community Room.

All of a sudden I hear "SHIRLEY!!!".

I GASPED.

Then I see Talker’s granddaughter running towards me.

I utter out loud, "OH NOOOOOOOO!!!!".

I should have taken my time scanning to ensure the coast was clear.

Talker’s granddaughter wraps her arms around my midriff and hugs me.

I do not hug her back.

One hand holding a snack, the other hand holding my coffee tumbler, I stand frozen with a helpless look on my face until she lets go.

Others in the room look at the spectacle with an amused look on their face.

One resident, whose eyes met mine, read my look and shrugged her shoulders in an unspoken "Oh well. What can you do".

Talker had her regular "It's meant to be" look on her face, and later told me, "She'd been waiting for you".

Great! Just Great!

I was so rattled that I had a hard time holding onto the bingo chips. My hands were shaking.

In an effort to discourage my little stalker from further engagement, I avoided making eye contact and, by Game 3, was able to settle in and play without my hands shaking.

I didn’t win anything and, after the last game, I quickly fled the room, headed back to my unit, so as to not give her an opportunity to engage.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent hiding ... hiding from a six-year-old with the lights out and the television on low so I could pretend not to be in the unit should she decide to knock knock to hug me later on her way home.

She didn’t, but I was ready to not answer the door.

At any rate, it looks like there is no escape as there will be times Talker will be bringing granddaughter with her to bingo.

I may have to tolerate the hugs until she grows out of it or senses my disconnect.

The resident who goes all postal when a child is in the room on bingo days was present, so I was surprised she — whom I refer to as R in the blog, didn’t say something like the time she stood up and said, "There’s a child here, so I’m leaving".

I guess she knows who she can get away with bullying around here and is afraid to pull that on Talker.

Not that she is afraid of Talker, but of Talker’s new best friend on the complex who seems a pistol and would rip R a new one had she said anything about Talker’s granddaughter being in the room.

So, since I didn’t get to run errands yesterday, I’ll have to head out today, but looks to be a good day for a drive and maybe some mall walking.

I had no intentions of watching the video being circulated about the cop murder of Tyre Nichols but, of course, some images of the beating showed up on Good Morning America this morning.

What little I saw brought tears to my eyes.

It's insane. Reminiscent of the brutalization of Rodney King.

How can so-called human beings, whether wearing a blue uniform or not, do that to other human beings then go on with their lives as if it was just another day at the office?

The news also indicated the cops had bonded out and two planned to plead not guilty.

You must be joking.

There is no way to justify those actions.