The Other Way

Another quiet weekend gone at the speed of light.

My only sighting this weekend was of our Karen character walking that same little yellow dog. So, I’m assuming she has traded her cat in for a dog.

I’ll verify this assumption next time I run into Talker.

In response to yesterday’s post, Scary Mary commented that, when hugged by a new maintenance guy, on the job for only about a month, she too, like I, had just let it happen.

That got me to thinking … how would it feel if the shoe was on the other foot — if women ran around hugging men they don’t know well enough for that, and a fairly new male resident who is being talked about came to mind.

The one and only time I’ve seen this resident was a few months ago when we passed on the walkway. He seemed scowly faced, not friendly at all, but I said "Hello" anyway and he said "Hello" in return.

I noticed he was good looking, but thought no more about him.

It was week before last when I noticed a tarp strung from the patio window to the railings of the unit across from Shadow.

It looked strange, so I thought perhaps the unit was vacant due to someone passing away or moving out and it was being treated with some special cleaning agent.

When running into Shadow on my way to Thursday’s bingo, I asked "What’s with the tarp on the unit across from you. Are they cleaning the unit?"

"He took it down" and something about it being protection from the sun.

"So the unit is not vacant?"

"No. A MAN lives there" said he, and the way he said it with a leer, emphasis on "A MAN" gave me pause like, so what, we have a lot of men living here.

"Why do you say it like that?" asked I.

He just grinned in a knowing way, no response, so I kept on heading to the Community Room where I asked the ladies if that unit across from Shadow was vacant or not.

"That’s where HE lives", said one of the girls.

Again the emphasis, but this time on "HE".

"He who?" asked I.

In unison, the ladies began talking about a man they described as too handsome for words.

Mixed with First Nation Indian blood and some other blood type I don’t recall that the girls said was a nice mixture, resulting in his being a devastatingly handsome kinda guy.

I said I didn’t know who they were talking about.

"He wears a ponytail" someone said and that scowling man I’d seen a few months ago came to mind.

Evidently that guy is the HE the girls were talking about, and he lives in the unit directly across from Shadow, where I’d seen the patio tarped off.

"He’s handsome, but he’s mean", said one of the girls.

"Mean how?" asked I.

"Well, for one, he’s antisocial, doesn’t like people knocking on his door".

That’s not mean, thought I. I socialize to a degree, but don’t like people knocking on my door either … and why would people be bothering him, knocking on his door anyway.

"And he doesn’t like women. Says he’s sick and tired of women always chasing him".

Well, now. That’s quite a special kind of ego to EXPECT women will be chasing him, thought I.

I can commiserate with this guy’s need and right to be left alone, as I feel the same; but I don’t EXPECT men to chase or randomly hug me and, when they do, it’s confusing — a mixture of surprise it happens and being somewhat pleased that I’ve still got it. However, never would I walk around, like this new resident (let’s call him The Scowler) expecting it, but his attitude gives me a glimpse into how the other side feels about unwanted attention.

So, anyway, Scowler’s resume is: Antisocial … walks around scowling … expects the women around here to chase after him.

He’s not wrong. There are women around here who chase — Not Dead Nancy and our Karen character are two that come to mind and, from the way Shadow said "A MAN", I’m assuming some of the ladies have quizzed him about his new neighbor.

Scowler doesn’t have to worry about me. I do remember thinking him good looking that one time I saw him, but not the devastatingly handsome the girls seem to think and probably because I sensed his bad attitude, which attitude probably made him seem just good looking to me, not all that special.

I hate to burst Shadow’s bubble with his obviously thinking I was asking about his new neighbor, as others probably had. I wasn’t asking about the guy, I was asking about the unit.

I’d like to get a photo of Scowler, let you decide, but chances of my getting another glimpse or a photo are slim to none.