I’ve been holding back on writing about this woman since she still lived here in the condo building. In fact, she lived right below me. I talked about her once when I talked about getting her package by mistake and calling us about a package that wasn’t ours but I’ve held back on the rest of her story until now.
She moved out, so I can now write about her.
Let’s start from the beginning. I’m going to call the people, Shirley and Edward (not their real names). They are/were in their seventies.
I saw the man who lived down below first. He was sitting out on his balcony reading a book when I came to look at the condo.
Once I moved in, I saw the woman down below a lot.
There have been a number of things with her. And they are all bad. I heard from the Realtor who the condo was represented by that she had shown this condo to two different people. And Shirley had a problem with both of them. I can only remember the one. The Realtor was showing a mother and child the condo. The child was yelling out on the balcony. A normal thing that kids do. I’m sure he wouldn’t have been yelling all the time. Shirley ran upstairs during the showing and told the Realtor that she wasn’t going to put up with a kid yelling all the time. So she was not able to rent the place to them because of Shirley. I wish she had rented to other people because this condo has been a lemon and the condo from hell (If I can ever move out, I’ll write about it).
Whenever I would see Shirley out walking her dog and I was walking by her, I would always say hello. She never said anything to me. My Mom and I passed her another time while she was out walking the dog. She was letting the dog sniff the foliage near the entrance. We both said hello and she said nothing.
Shirley and Edward sat out on their balcony a lot. They were out there all the time, even into the evening. They watched rocket launches, ate dinner, and read books. I would hear Edward explain about seeing the rocket as it soared into space. I heard their lunch and dinner plates clang as their forks and knives hit the china. They always had some kind of food that stank. Every time I was on the balcony, it would waft up to the third floor and I would have to pull my shirt up over my nose. It was awful. I was gasping for air. A few times I couldn’t stand it and I had to go back inside.
They used to go down the stairs. She would always go first and he would follow. Both times I was coming down from the third floor, I said hello to him and he returned my hello with more chat. I think he asked me how I was doing. Edward was putting things into his trunk one time. I was parked right next to him and said, “Hello. How are you doing today?” He replied to me. He was always nice when I saw him. He was always friendly, exactly the opposite of her.
They lived here part-time until the condo was short on funds and decided to charge the owners, all at one time, over $6,000 for the shortfall. As soon as that happened, they moved down from up north permanently. They were from Virginia.
Shortly after moving here permanently, a Packrat company box came with some of their stuff in it. Edward had help from family members bringing a blue car down. The strange thing is I never saw those family members again. I guess they weren’t close.
There were a pack of ducks one time. There was a mother duck and 3 babies. I saw them walking down the street. They were trying to get to the back of the condo where there was a break from the wall, so they could cross the main road. But Shirley interrupted their plans. She went to the back of the building to get a photo of them with her iPad. I saw her walk from the back toward the front of the building. When the ducks saw her, they turned around and went back in the direction they came. This confused them. They didn’t know how to get across the street. They went back down the street toward our main entrance. Then some other people saw them and messed them up again. They went over on the street next to my street. They stayed in the area between the two streets for awhile. They looked like they didn’t know what to do. Finally, they came back toward my building. I noticed they disappeared under the wall before they got to the building. Then I couldn’t see them. But just when I was about to give up, they surfaced. Traffic was coming to a stop on the 4-lane road. The ducks were crossing the main road. I saw them in the median and the westbound cars had stopped to let them pass. It was dark outside now and I could barely see them. Whew! They had made it safely across the street. If Shirley had let them go in the first place and not be so adamant about taking their photo, they wouldn’t have had to go through so much. And it would have been light out.
I think Shirley’s dog didn’t like her, especially after her husband passed away. I saw the dog pull on the leash and dig its feet into the grass and dirt. The dog was definitely upset. I don’t know if it was because of her or the loss of him. She was the one who took the dog out all the time. Later in his life, he started taking it out. I never saw it misbehave when he took it out.
The dog passed away shortly after Edward’s passing. A month or so later, I saw her with a very small white dog. It was only here a few days before another dog appeared. It was a spitting image of the original dog. This dog was really rambunctious. It wanted to run and run but with the leash she wouldn’t let it. I felt sorry for it. It needed to get out in the open and run. I imagined when it was growing up that it probably had a large yard to run like crazy. Now it was stuck living in a condo where there was no place to run. It was constantly pulling on the leash when it wanted to go certain directions. She would hold onto the leash and it would be pulled up onto its back legs. The front legs would be off the ground. She would always pull hard on the leash. The leash appeared to be cutting into the dog’s throat. I wanted to report her to Animal Services but I didn’t. Because what if nothing came of it and I still had to live near her.
Eventually, a woman came that appeared to be a trainer. The dog was out of control. It would jump at people and Shirley would have to hold onto the leash without being pulled over (falling). It leaped at everyone. One time my Mom was walking toward the dog, and Shirley had to say don’t, wait until I get control. That’s how bad it was. This trainer came over here a few times. Then I would see Shirley trying to work with the dog. Nothing seemed to work. Eventually, she put a different harness on the dog that was not around its throat. But then she would put the one around the throat back on. I had never seen any other dog in this complex act like that.
Shirley always parked in the handicap spots. She was not handicapped. She went up and down two flights of stairs all the time. I wondered if she parked in handicap spots while out shopping. After her husband passed away, she only parked in the handicap spot twice. A few days ago, Shirley came back to visit a woman who comes to her condo once a year. She stays for about a month and then goes back to Indiana. Shirley parked in the handicap spot again. I know people may have handicaps that make it look like they don’t have handicaps. But this woman seemed to always do bad stuff when she lived here. Other people knew she was not handicapped and took photos of her parking there.
Shirley moved out in August 2023. She moved to a townhouse in a new subdivision about nine miles south. Her condo was a three bedroom. I’m sure that was more space than she needed. Her new place is two bedrooms.
Conclusion
Months before she moved, she had a new small palm tree planted out in front of the building. There is a dedication plaque stuck into the ground saying it is in memory of her husband with his birth date and death date. I wonder why she went to all that trouble and then she moved away.
Until next time, happy reading!
-Matt
Such a relatable post, Matt! We're very lucky with our neighbours where I live now, but I've come across some interesting people in my time living in other places. Great story!