Neighbor Trouble

Our next door neighbor is in trouble. I think he's deep in gambling debts. He's been putting his money on horses or race cars or cards, and when he's lost it ,he's borrowed money from a loan shark. With those percentages it sure isn't possible to ever pay back, unless you score big time. So he's trying to cover the point a week interest rate, but he can't. Much less he can reduce the capital. He's up to his neck in trouble. The bookie's at his door.

Or maybe he's mixed up in drugs. His habit is out of control. He has no money for food or anything other than drugs. He needs his next fix soon. He's dealer comes a'knocking.

Perhaps he is sick and the two men at his door today were his friends who were worried about his condition. They were very insistent. They rang the outer door bell for at least fifteen minutes. Somehow they got into the staircase and proceeded to ring the doorbell across the hallway from ours and kept knocking for another fifteen minutes, before leaving without an answer. Something is going on.

It could, of course, be that our neighbor has imbeciles for friends. Friends who don't understand that when somebody doesn't answer to a house-shaking ringing of doorbell within two minutes, there is no use continuing a full quarter of an hour. Neither will the non-existent person in the apartment come and open the door even if you knock VERY LOUDLY FOR EXTREMELY LONG. Our neighbor just isn't home this morning. 8:30 AM is pretty early to be making a ruckus.