Verified

I don’t know which could be worse — being stung by a wasp or being pepper sprayed. However, after having been pepper sprayed, I can verify it’s no joke.

Due to the paving project/car in storage, I’ve not been out of the neighborhood for weeks, not since the day I saw the goats used as lawnmowers on the hillside.

I had to drive a few cities over yesterday, to pick up a new printer (because the old one died) before the order was due to cancel.

After stepping out onto the porch, locking the door behind me, I became aware of something flying over my head.

It was a wasp!

Panicking, I quickly pulled the pepper spray from my pocket and began spraying at it and, as it moved around to get away from the spray, headed towards my face, I sprayed again. Then, as it veered around me, towards where I had to exit down the stairs, I sprayed again. The wasp flew off at this point, but the wind blew the spray back into my eyes and mouth.

Next Door Neighbor — hearing a commotion, opened her door, asked if I was okay.

I couldn’t respond at first, because I was choking and gagging from swallowing pepper spray. My eyes were burning, but I managed to get the key in the lock, got out a "Wasp, pepper spray" response to my neighbor as I ran inside, headed to the bathroom, used a face towel and water to clean my eyes, followed by eyewash.

It only took a minute or two to recover, so I’m guessing being stung by that wasp would have been worse and, now that I've pepper sprayed myself, gotten to verify what it does, it’s good to know how well pepper spray works.

Suffice it to say, I’ll now be peeking through the door, looking to see if it is wasp free, before I step outside, as there must be a nest nearby.

The new printer was way heavier than I’d expected, so I had a store employee put it in a cart, but didn’t ask the employee to leave his post, take it to the car.

I was just gonna struggle best I could to get the box in the car. But then a young man, looking to be around 17/18, walked over and asked if I’d be interested in buying a candy bar to support something or other.

"No thanks", said I. "But, I’ll make a deal with you. If you put this box in the car for me, I’ll pay you for a bar and you can keep the bar".

"Deal" said he.

Once back at the complex, I checked the porch for wasps before I stepped near the door, retrieved the dolly, slide the box from car to dolly, tied it securely with cords and no problem rolling it upstairs.

When I was walking through the parking lot with the dolly, I heard a voice behind me. It was Meat Man (formerly Handsome Guy).

He was driving into the complex, saw me heading to my car, paused, rolled down his window to say, "Looking tasty, looking tasty. Have a blessed day" and then continued on around to his side of the complex.

Knowing what I know of him now, just hearing his voice rendered me speechless. My delayed reaction, as he drove away, was to laugh and shake my head in amused disbelief.

Such a naughty boy he is.

I’m so amused at his antics that I can no longer be disgusted. I just find him hilarious and will say so next time he gives me an opening, without going into detail.

Running into Home Girl later that day, she tells me he’d yet again tried to talk to her.

Seeing her out and about, he began walking towards her, whereupon she says she gave him the evil eye.

Didn’t deter him any, he tried to greet her.

She walked by without returning the greeting.

"So, it’s like that?" said he.

She kept walking, no reply, ignored him.

He yelled out to her, "I already have a girlfriend you know".

Oh really! He’s not acting like a man who already has a girlfriend, but I guess he thought if he said he was already taken, Home Girl would think him safe — that he was not trying to do with her what she full well knows he is.

It seems the worse Home Girl treats Meat Man — curse at him, refuse to speak to him, the more of a challenge he finds her to be and the more determined he is to win this game he’s trying to play with her.

I see a lot of my ex-husband in Meat Man, so I know the game he’s playing is to charm her into a relationship. Then, once he’s satisfied that he’s won her over, he will then exact his revenge for her initial treatment of him, as my ex-husband told me he had exacted revenge on a woman named LaDonna.

LaDonna was a girl he was interested in dating in high school. However, she was miss popular, way out of his league and let him know it.

After high school, my ex enlisted in the army, came out bulked up. No longer the geeky kid no girl looked at twice, he'd become a handsome devil that turned women's head.

In the meantime, LaDonna had married, birthed children, her shine was gone, no longer the miss popular she was in high school.

When their paths crossed and she now saw this handsome man, with a career (cop) who owned his own home, he didn’t have to work too hard to charm her into infidelity and eventually away from her husband.

Once her husband learned of her infidelity, LaDonna and her husband split, with one or the other filing for divorce. It was then my ex dropped LaDonna like a hot potato, began dating me.

One day, my ex decided to visit his grandmother, took me along for the ride.

There was a woman there already visiting — LaDonna, who looked a little beaten down by life and uncomfortable with me, embarassed, hurt looking.

I didn't know why but didn't dwell on it.

My ex seemed overly joyous during the visit and later, as we drove away, told me LaDonna was an ex-girlfriend.

Okay by me. I wasn't the jealous type.

My ex then seemed to relish in telling me the story of how he’d exacted his revenge, screwed up LaDonna's life, for how she'd dismissed him in high school.

Red Light?

Absolutely that story was a red light, but I was young, naive, having fun dating this older more experienced guy, had no clue he was telling me what a sick hateful man he could be. In fact, it wasn't until years later that I had an epiphany and realized the visit to his grandmother's was a setup.

He somehow knew LaDonna would be there. Now that I think about it, he probably told her to be there so they could talk things out, but then dragged me along to flaunt his young girlfriend in the face of this now older lady to hurt her further, which is why she seemed so uncomfortable and hurt by my presence and he overly joyous of it.

Problem with Meat Man’s playing this kind of game is that he will never win, never accomplish the goal of screwing up Home Girl's life, one way or another, but it’s fun to watch the scoundrel try.