Timing is Everything

The more I thought about why Red Light would ask if my reason for dropping out of bingo was because of her, the more it occurred to me she just might have been fishing for information …… expected me to say no, it wasn’t her, it was someone else, so she could start drama.

Little did I know the drama had already begun. I just got caught up in it due to poor timing.

Heading out of the complex to run errands this morning, I parked in front of the office, ran in to drop off next month’s rent check, ran into the Baker.

Perfect timing.

After greeting her, I went straight into, "I got the strangest text from Rox (Red Light) asking if I was leaving bingo because of her. Why would she think that?"

The Baker began laughing, said "That was a strange thing to do, but let me tell you what happened earlier".

Baker said she’d been approached by another resident who said, "I can’t stand Rox. I just can’t get along with that woman and, since she’s no longer a resident, I don’t think she should be allowed to attend bingo".

Baker said that put her in a terrible position because, though the complaining resident has a valid point about Red Light not living here and technically should not be allowed to participate in resident activities, Red Light is her friend.

What the Baker decided to do was to call Red Light, tell her what had been said and leave it up to her to decide if she wanted to nevertheless continue to attend bingo.

She did.

Red Light attended the same day she found out someone did not want her there …… the same day I decided to announce I quit.

She put two and two together, thought I might be the complaining resident, sent that text.

I actually admire Red Light’s not folding like a cheap suit. The Baker wouldn’t tell her who the complainer is, so she’s on the hunt.

Now that I understood what's going on, and Baker being between a rock and a hard place as to whether to allow her friend Rox to continue to participate, I offered the following.

"You do a lot for these people, and they don’t seem to appreciate how much you do, how hard you work to give them fun activities. They take advantage of you. Rox has always helped you with all you do. So, if the person complaining is not doing anything to help you, and Rox is, then F_ck ‘em".

The Baker laughed again, and said "That’s the thing. The resident complaining is also helping me".

So, anyway, I don’t know what the Baker is going to do and, since I won’t be attending bingo in the future, I won’t know if Red Light shows up at bingo tomorrow, and the next and the next until things blow up and she can't.

One thing I do know is who the complaining resident is because, when the Baker said the complainer also helps her, that brought it down to two possibilities …… the Talker and the Other Wheelchair Lady.

The Other Wheelchair Lady — the resident who took offense to Di saying the F word, is known to be sometimey, but it’s a medication issue. Outside of flipping out, now and then because of meds, I know her to be friends with Red Light; but there's always the possibility that's changed, but I doubt it.

My money is on Talker as the one who says she can’t get along with Red Light, and wants her to stop coming here.

I say this because, a few weeks ago, Di was upset because Talker was saying bad things about her, "trying to turn my friends against me", Di said.

When Di was telling me what Talker was saying/doing, I said "That doesn’t sound like her, doesn’t seem like something she’d do".

Now I’m thinking that, though I’ve never seen that part of Talker, she may actually be guilty of inflicting emotional damage on Di, maneuvering to get Red Light banned.

After all, this is the Feng Shui Year of the Snake. People we thought we knew are shedding their skins, coming out as someone we never thought they could be, doing things we’d never thought they’d do — Snoop Dogg, Cary Underwood, Rascal Flatts to name a few. So, it’s not a stretch to surmise Talker is shedding her skin, coming out as a hurtful bully.

At any rate, that’s the tea.

I have a sense that, at the rate things are going, bingo may end up shutting down altogether because, if Talker is successful at getting Red Light out, she herself will probably walk away, leaving the Baker on her own, with no one to help and Baker will have no choice but to shut down the whole thing.