Saturday, January 28, 2023

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.

12 comments:

  1. Uh, that's a lot of maneuvering to avoid a kid. Just tell her you're fine with saying "hi" quickly but not hugging anymore. But then again, some kids are carrying guns these days. 500 people a day are dying of covid still in this country. Tell her you don't want covid cooties. (Uh, being from Oklahoma, I can tell you that "Indian Giver" went out of style a long time ago, about the same time that Oriental turned into Asian, and Mexicans turned into Hispanic.) Tyre's death is horrid; reminded me of bad cops and bad guys long before Rodney King. It's sickening. Hang in there with the kid. Linda in Kansas

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    1. With what I know of the Talker and my now thinking the little stalker may not understand talk or signals, as a result of that two story fall, maneuvering seems the best option. "Indian Giver" just came out of nowhere. Funny how it is that, the older I get, the more phrases from the past come to mind. I can get away with this phrase not being appropriate by today's careful what you say standards because I myself have Oklahoma Choctaw Indian blood running through my veins, but not enough to get a tribal benefits. I checked.

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    2. Wow! I didn't know native Indians wouldn't be offended. Yep, my Mom was a bit Indian, born in Shawnee, OK, but complained all her life that she wasn't enough to qualify for benefits in the late 1920s, early 1930s when they did "the roll." She and her Mom could've really used some extra funds. Stay safe out there! Linda in Kansas

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    3. How interesting your mom was "a bit Indian". Maybe we're related.

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  2. The Memphis killing sickens me too. I'll also not watch the video but, like you, it's hard to avoid some exposure to the contents if you want to keep up with news in general. We both know there are bad people in this world but no one wants to believe that the police have that many bad apples in one place at one time. The only response that makes any sense is for me to double-down on being just the opposite any time I have the chance. Sorta like balancing out the negative in this world with my own small positive.

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    1. That's pretty much all we can do is to do good ourselves and not let the news turn us into cynics.

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  3. It's hard to avoid videos when they seem to be everywhere. Those officers should go to prison for a long time.

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    1. I've taken to just closing my eyes when a video pops up on the screen.

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  4. I found a site that had 4 half hour videos. The only one that showed anything was the video from the pole camera. Most of the stupid stuff happened in the first 10 minutes. Then it took forever for the ambulance to get there. Then the EMTs were in no hurry to help. Near the end of that video there were 9 people standing around doing nothing.

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    1. Those videos would be too much for me, it's bad enough just hearing about what they did. WTF did the EMT's think they'd been called to the scene for if not to administer aid. Maybe they don't listen to the news and missed that 2 EMT's who ridiculed and did not administer aid then, after a time, just dragged and tossed the guy to a stretcher and are now on trial for his Murder. I read something about two of the EMT's that stood around, did nothing for Tyre, were either suspended or fired.

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  5. The Video sickened me, the Culture of Police Violence now being recorded is just making local municipalities try to pretend to do the things to run just enuf damage control as to quiet and calm the Public outrage. Nothing is ever really done to change the System and do better vetting of who they allow to wear a badge and carry a Gun. Far too many who just want to dominate and be above the Law are gravitating to that field of Work, knowing that they protect their own, even when they know their own are not fit to Serve. Kind of like Clergy covering for the Pedophiles among them. Politicians covering for the dangerous among them too, putting Party over the good of all. Well, to me Police have been doing that far too long as well, putting their Blue Brotherhood above defending Citizens against Crime and choosing who they deem worthy of their protection and extending Humanity towards. As for your little Stalker, it is up to her Grandmother to teach/train her how much to bother any Adult... you may have to confront the Gramma about it privately and explain that it's too much and has become uncomfortable for you, but you don't wish to hurt her Grandchild's Feelings, so would she please handle it on your behalf. I would have no qualms about speaking the Truth since it doesn't benefit that Child to have her Grandma allowing boundaries to be strained, the Child is too Young to know better and is being affectionate and not picking up on Social Cues yet as to when her presence is unwanted or needs to be dialed back and moderated. She'll hopefully Learn, but the Gramma is clearly not picking up on the Cues of Adults when the Child is behaving in a way, however well intended, that a little bit goes a long way.

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    1. Gramma can't seem to pick up on social clues either and can't say no to the child. Like when she said, "I can't tell her what to do with her things". Why can't you, I thought. She's the child. You're the adult. You're not teaching her anything, just letting her do what she wants. But in this day and age, there's no more it takes a village with a non-family member (me) pointing out what's correct what's not correct; and Gramma herself won't take it well if I talk with her directly. Sometimes avoidance is the best course of action. This is one of those times.

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