I’ve been pissed off and plotting revenge

So the other night I started this pissed off blog post about a neighbor (B.G.) of mine. It was full of rage and f bombs but I decided against hitting the publish key because I wanted to reread it without a red wine influence. I’m still not going to publish that post but after reading Becky’s post on race and the prez race, I thought the story worth sharing.

It started innocently enough with a different neighbor (S.V.) asking about my move; S.V. wondered if there was any truth to the rumor that my husband lost his job necessitating a move. There isn’t and I said so. Unfortunately, I was told that B.G., a woman who kissed my cheek when she saw me was the source of the rumor. I let it slide but when I was told that the same woman’s husband was running about the neighborhood calling Little Bit “just another little whore on birth control,” my patience was spent. I poured a glass of wine and was sitting outside smoking a cigarette talking to my sister (back home in NOLA) about a friend’s pregnant 14 year old when the gossip spreading couple smiled and waved to me.

I’ve never been one to understand those who would kiss your cheek as they plunged a knife in your back so I mentioned to B.G. that we might have a chat. She made a beeline to my house, and we chit chatted through my door to my kitchen table. Then I asked her about the comments. She, of course, denied that she’d been a party to any gossip about my family and asked where I’d heard such a thing. When I told her, she asked me to consider the source. I explained that I had and that S.V. is the type that would tell me to fuck off if she felt like it. We danced around for a few more minutes before B.G. really pissed me off.

This woman, a woman I’d always been friendly with, told me that S.V. is just pissed off because she was told that she couldn’t have garage sales anymore. B.G. is on the HOA board and explained that she was only trying to protect our property values. I told her that I don’t really give a flying fuck about S.V. having garage sales but B.G. was quick to point out that we aren’t to run businesses out of our homes. I countered that we all ran businesses out of our homes and that B.G. encouraged me to get into one that she was involved in. B.G. then said- are you ready for this?- that S.V.’s garage sales brought blacks and spics into the neighborhood! I reminded B.G. that I see people as individuals not groups so it matters not to me who’s coming in for a garage sale. I told her that I was offended that she thought she could sit in my kitchen and say such a thing.

To that, B.G. said that she was trying to protect MY home value too. After all, my house is for sale and what would a potential buyer think if there were all these poor people in their crappy cars visiting a garage sale across the street? I’m really pissed and another glass in at this point so I told B.G. that I grew up poor, white Louisiana trash and if it weren’t for garage sales and Goodwill, might not have been clothed at times. She said that I was different; I made something of myself and I’m a different person.

I told her that was bullshit. I’m the same fucking person I’ve always been and that while I may have done some good things in my life, my living in this house- across the street from her- was a result of my husband’s (Eastern Indian) work. My share of the mortgage is earned by my sometimes witty marital conversation, providing clean laundry and on my fucking back. There was a little back pedaling on her part but it was clear the conversation was over. And, with the exception of her telling me that the house could be rented per the HOA bylaws and that she was sorriest that I thought she’d speak of Little Bit that way, it was.

Afterward, I polished off the red and fumed. Where do people like that get off? What could I do to really make my distaste for that sort of person known. My first thought was a “White Trash, Nigger and Spic” lawn party and giving a prize for whomever arrived in the junkiest car. Then I thought that I could pull up the for sale sign and raffle off one year of free rent in my house to anybody with brown skin. Or, maybe I could make it a Section 8 house and open up rental to a poor person of any color? Nah, the libertarian in me can’t get on board with Section 8.

As Becky noted in her blog piece, this country is a long way from transcending race but I feel it necessary to point out that the tint of one’s skin isn’t the only thing used to divide us. I don’t have any answers but I really needed to vent. And, because the doc has already poo-poohed the free rent idea, I’m just gonna hit publish on this piece and ask for your ideas. I’ve got nearly three weeks to come up with something brilliant.

~ by Miche on March 21, 2008.