The Tide Begins To Turn: October 20-21, 2006

It doesn’t take long for information to circulate in my neighborhood, and by later in the afternoon I was already noticing a slight change in the atmosphere. There were still a lot of people about in the neighborhood, but they exhibited a different attitude towards me. Rather than glaring or shouting menacing comments at me, they would just casually pass by without even looking my way. It quickly became apparent that there was an organized effort to show less hostility towards me. The only question I had was whether it was sincere or just a ruse to convince me to let my guard down.

For the past three days, I had not been away from my house for more than an hour or so at a time. I went to the store or bought something to eat, then quickly came back home. I spent a lot of time outside, walking about my property and the immediate area. It was a coincidence that I had just recently quit my job to go back to school. If it was not for this, I would not have been able to maintain this vigilance and it is likely that this would have invited someone to come back and finish off my house while I was away.

After three days of being harangued though, my stress level was almost to it’s limit. I needed to take a break, so I met a friend for diner and tried to just forget about the problems here. As it began to get dark outside, I knew that my absence would provide a good opportunity for someone to strike. I think a small part of me actually wanted this to happen. If I came home to find the house burnt down to the ground, I certainly would have been upset. But I also would have had little choice to leave then and that would have ended the problem.

I finally decided to come home around ten in the evening. The neighborhood was quieter than it had been anytime during the past several days. I walked through my back yard to check on things, then went around front to go inside. There was not a soul in sight except for Arlen, so I walked over and sat down on his porch. As we sat talking quietly, Arlen said “there’s one of them now,” and nodded towards Sheldon who was walking on the sidewalk towards us.

Sheldon crossed the street before he got to us and when he started walking down the sidewalk there, something really interesting occurred. A truck turned the corner and slowed down beside him. Sheldon turned to it and said loudly “No, Do not stop here, never stop on this corner.” He kept walking and pointed forward, as the truck followed along.

It was difficult to hold it in, but as soon as Sheldon was out of range, Arlen and I both started laughing out loud. Arlen slapped his leg and said “Damn, you got him working for you now.” I replied “I don’t want him working for me. I just want him to quit selling drugs in front of my house.” Well, at this point it was starting to look like the guys here had decided to try and accommodate me. I went to sleep that evening a little more relaxed, but still wondering exactly how things would sort out.

The next morning I saw Kent down the street and I walked over to him. I asked if we could talk for a minute and he stepped away from his friends. I began by apologizing for my confrontational attitude with him the other day. I went on to explain that I thought my behavior should be somewhat understandable after what had just happened here, but that I think I had unfairly directed my anger at him. He shook my hand and said to forget about it.

There are several reasons why I apologized to Kent. First of all, he is Rosalyn’s son, and she has always treated me good. But just as important was the fact that I had never had any real problems with Kent before. I do suspect that he sells drugs, based on the company he keeps, but the truth is I really don’t know this for sure. If he does sell, he certainly doesn’t do it while standing in my yard or even in front of my house. In fact, my anger that day was not even caused by him, but by the guys who I knew sold drugs on this corner who were hanging around my home again. Kent just happened to be the first person I ran into, so I directed my anger there.

But the main reason I apologized to Kent was because of Officer Marshall. After making it clear that he didn’t give a damn if my house was burnt down, I realized the burden was upon me to come to some sort of understanding with the guys here. Too many enemies can be a real problem, so I had to adjust my strategy a bit. While I might not like anybody who sells drugs, the reality of the situation dictated that I rate these guys according to how obnoxious they are and deal with them accordingly. Whether Kent was a drug dealer or not was irrelevant. He was not causing me problems, so I needed to make sure he understood that I would not be causing him problems.

Later that evening, another turning point was reached. I was inside the house and had the front door open (I have a screen door) when I heard someone outside call my name loudly. I didn’t recognize the voice, so I tucked my gun in my waistband and went to check. When I first saw that Sherrod was standing on the sidewalk in front of my house, I thought he was there to confront me because it had only been a week since I had called the police on him. When I stepped onto the porch, I was mentally prepared for the possibility that someone might come from either side of my house. And as crazy as this might sound, my adrenaline was still pumping enough that I just didn’t give a damn.

I just looked at Sherrod and said “What’s going on?” He asked if he could step up to speak with me for a moment and I invited him onto my property. I walked down the steps to meet him, as this allowed me to better see if anyone might be on the sides of my house. It appeared that no one but Sherrod and I were out there as he began to speak. He really surprised me when he started out by saying “I just wanted to explain myself to you. I didn’t mean you any disrespect the other day.”

I explained that the activities in front of my house were going on virtually non-stop. I said that things were getting out of hand, and this might be causing me to over-react at times. He said he understood what I was saying and that I was right in asking people to respect my house. Well, first Sheldon puts off making a sale in front of my house, then Kent graciously accepts my apology for my misguided anger, and now Sherrod actually comes up to my house and calls me outside for the express purpose of apologizing to me.

By the next day, things were getting back to normal. The guys who had recently been ignoring me, and only a few days before had been looking like they wanted to kill me, were now just casually walking past and saying hello as if nothing had ever happened. I can’t undo the fact that somebody tried to burn my house down. The best I can hope for is that it doesn’t happen again. And now, it was starting to look like it probably wouldn’t.

UPCOMING POSTS
Wednesday: Turning To The Other Front
Friday: Searching For Signs Of Intelligent Life