But what I did not say
is that we have a hurricane. We have an ignorant tenant who refuses to pay her half of the electric bill. I meticulously paid my half since Wallace left, all documented. On the other hand, her unpaid half accumulated to $300 and FPL finally cut off the service this morning. I ensured the Florida room would be self-contained if this kind of thing ever happened, so I am getting by fine while Theresa the Cave Woman is toughing it out.We shall see how tough. I have two new security cameras rigged up since I suspect she has some open flame outdoor camping gear that she may try to light inside the place. Then I can instantly evict her on safety grounds. The problem is that somehow what she says about Wallace telling her she didn’t have to pay me anything rings true—although he would only do that kind of thing as sabotage against me. It no longer matters, as he is playing possum again and I am ready for it this time. If he gets paid to be the owner, I get paid to be the operator.
Theresa the Cave Woman quickly made friends with the neighbors and sits in their A/C all day, talking on the phone up to 12 hours. They are already complaining to me about her freeloading and I say, “Hey.” She is powering up her cell using the laundry room socket and cooking out on the patio. Let’s see how long she keeps this up. Is she so obsessed with stealing that she will live like a rat forever? Well, she’s 55 so she knows everything.
But I suspect her true intention is that peasant mentality; that she’ll half-starve if she thinks she is doing the same to me. Wrong, I am living quite as well as I did for six years in Thailand and Venezuela. I am hardly suffering at all. I have repeatedly tried to contact Wallace to find out if this is all his doing, but he is not answering. Which, this time around, is too bad. The office will not approve any sale of this place without my knowledge. Wallace forgets they’ve known me for five years and have a reputation for paying all my bills. On time.
Enough drama. I read the banned books list. Yes, folks, we still have small minds in America (besides in the next room) and September 25 starts Banned Books Week. Most of the censors are, you guessed it, school boards. Can’t have children reading forbidden knowledge when it is free on the Internet, I suppose. I disappoint myself, I’m being a piss-poor radical, for I’ve only read 9 of the books and seen movies of another 10. Out of 50 banned books, I’ve exposure to just 19 total.
I’ve read “offensive” books like “The Scarlet Letter”, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “Gone With The Wind” and “In Cold Blood”. I dabbled in the “irreligious” by recently sampling “The Origin Of Species”. My “too political” material includes “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “1984”, the latter being assigned reading when I was in grade ten.
I’m doing a little better with banned movies. I’ve seen “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Dr. Zhivago”, “Slaughterhouse Five”, “Jaws”, “Lord of the Rings”, “Catch-22”, “A Clockwork Orange” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”. This all makes me 38% non-conformist and that is not near enough.
If want to be a full-fledged radical, I better get a move on. I suppose the best place to start is from the banned “too much sex” list, which includes “The Prince of Tides” and “Jaws”. The most recently written is “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” published in 1991, and I’ve never before heard of it. Sounds more like a George Carlin routine.
In a sad turn, I may get started on this reading for 30% off. My last remaining hangout, the Borders over on Aventura, is closing the doors. Everything is on sale, although with a copy of “Maker Magazine” running at $15, things are still out of my price range. I’m saving up money to buy out my partner, you see. So he can get his own place and bankrupt it by himself.
