Bad Influences

Many people who know me also know the story of the young male in my apartment complex who would accost me in the hallway insisting that I should cheat on "my boyfriend" to be with him.  When that failed to work, he would come knocking at my door asking if he could hang out in my apartment.  When met by "no" every time, he insinuated that this meant that I hated black people.  Not just him.  But every single black person on the planet.

When I returned from Pennsylvania last time (at the end of May), he ceased to be present and so I assumed that he was gone for good.  He is not actually a tenant of these apartments, but rather the visiting cousin of a tenant who is actually not insane.  Needless to say I was rather annoyed when he returned about two weeks ago.  He left me alone for a few days, as he was enamored by an Eastern European woman who is here with him and with whom he was frequently seen making out with under the stairs.

However, in the past few days, whether she is there or not, he feels the need to say hello to me and call me out by name whenever he sees me, and actually stand in my path when I'm trying to go up the stairs to my apartment.  Childish and extremely unfunny.  Now for the point of my story...

There are children in the household in which he's staying.  And while it's really none of my business, he has obviously influenced these children with his lack of social skills.  There is a little girl, maybe 6 years old, who is mostly outside all day playing with the other kids in the building (who aren't nearly as annoying as she is).  She saw me a few times walking Chrissy, my puppy, outside and would ask to pet her.  Because this girl screams everything at the top of her lungs and in the whiniest tone possible, my dog was immediately terrified of her.  It got to a point where she would accost me in the hallway as well everytime I would go outside and ask to hold/pet Chrissy.  I would tell her, "Ok you can pet her, but I can't stay out here because I've got stuff to do."  Apparently "busy" is not a word in this child's vocabulary because she would still whine and insist I stay there for 25 or more minutes.  

Said child may or may not look like this.

Normally I'd have no problem telling a child to STFU and get out of the way.  Even though I love children, the kids these days (yeah I'm 90) are annoying and have no manners.  Their parents are mostly just as wretched as they are.  However, I know this child's mother.  And she's so so nice and really cool and everything.  So I can hardly be mean to her kid.

This child eventually got into a habit of waiting outside of my apartment at times she knew I'd be coming outside with Chrissy.  Fucking weird, ok.  So I told her mom that if she would be at home, I'd let them puppysit some day while I go do stuff but that she must supervise this child because she's heinous (or something less mean).  So they are puppysitting Thursday and now I can tell the child to wait three effing days and leave me alone.

Moral of the story: raising children in the environment of prowlers is raising prowlers.

In other news....Zappa Plays Zappa...North Charleston.  I'm not going but I am intrigued.  That is all.  Oh and if anybody can figure out who's opening for The Avett Brothers at the Performing Arts Center, feel free to let me know.