The view from Monday morning The uneasy quiet continued throughout the weekend, but Twitter and Instagram excitement bubbled anyway. Weeks ago, in a burst of frustration, I made a Twitter account called Antonofthealley, who declares that he “likes the quiet alley.” I tweeted once, asking Maggie, aka Paul’sSexKitten, to “turn down the nasty music.” Then… Continue reading A-names of the alley

Every day is a strangely-wrapped present when you live next door to a deranged person. Today brought us much to savor, beginning as usual, with our straggling quartet of runners crawling out the door. The classic rock was already screaming through her wide-open front windows, letting everyone enjoy the best, the most amazing rock n’… Continue reading Take it to Twitter, bitch

Praise be, last night was quiet. After we squabbled with Maggie over the hose into our carport on the alley, she slyly arranged another hose to drip into our front yard. We left it where it was. Calvin and I know we are headed into mental illness soup, but we don’t want to rush in.… Continue reading There always were disconnects

Today, out of nowhere, Maggie plugged her hose into our wall so water coursed down the rickety carport wall and ran through our carport down the alley. She’s done this before–the last time led to her second hospital stay. She’s going crazier and looking for a target… and here we are! Ta-da! We are so… Continue reading Maggie’s Classic Water Move

It was a difficult way to start the day–I rolled out of the couch in my basement office. Calvin slept in the living room and got up to make coffee. We all exercised that morning, Daisy and Calvin jogging, Wyatt and I walking. When we came back to the house, the music was still pounding… Continue reading Things get weird: Round 1, Skirmish C for Cops

Here in the present, June 15, 2020, Maggie is home from her second stay in the psych ward, and is mostly quiet. She’s tweeting about her children and Paul McCartney, but Calvin and I can feel her winding up. Last night she sat on her stoop, smoking and listening to music playing from her phone.… Continue reading Things get weird: Round 1, Skirmish B for bread

All of these things happened about a month ago but I am having a very hard time remembering what came first. There seems to be a strong forcefield of disorientation emanating from a mentally ill person in distress. I think my family was inside that forcefield during many of the events I’m describing, and it’s… Continue reading Things get weird, Round 1, Skirmish A for Asshole

The early days of May had been quiet-ish, but Maggie had made her presence known in the alley and out front. It was definitely weird to go outside when she was there and when you are trapped in your house all day and night, it’s really nice to just go outside and not think about… Continue reading Things get weird

Between yesterday’s post and today’s, a lot of things happened and I will address them all. But yesterday I came face to face with the unanswered question of why any of this is happening to us? Yesterday I went to a body shop to get a damage assessment of our car, which Maggie had keyed… Continue reading What’d you do to her?

After that “harrumph” from our neighbor Maggie, other things began happening. She blasted music at odd times. One Saturday night, I could hear music pounding from her house, and ended up sleeping downstairs on the couch. That turned out to be a bad idea because she was blasting music on that floor and we could… Continue reading Early signs of madness appear