Several years ago, my favorite neighbor was stricken with Alzheimer's Disease. The once funny and personable friend of mine was now paranoid and delusional and it broke my heart to see him that way.
One night I heard a commotion on the porch and opened the door to see him standing there in his bath robe. "What's up?" I asked him. "My wife is trying to kill me!" he said. I assured him she loved him and would do no such thing and led him back across the street to his home. By that time, his wife had noticed he had gone missing and met me at the door. Relieved, she thanked me and against his protests, took him back inside.
I had no sooner got back home when I heard some yelling "Help me! HELP ME!!! She's going to kill me!" I rushed back across the street to see if I could help and saw him running along the side of their house. I helped his wife get him back under control and that's when she told me she had hidden his guns, afraid that he would hurt himself or someone else. He couldn't find his guns, so that was the reason he thought she was going to kill him.
My neighbor's daughter was there, too, and she thanked me for my help and I told her that's what friends and neighbors were for and to call me if they ever had any more trouble. She said she didn't have my number and I told her it was published. She said her phone was unlisted and started to tell it to me but I told her I wasn't good at remembering numbers and I'd get it from her another time or from her mother.
The next day I found a sticky note on my screen door with a nice little message and her phone number. I stuck it up on the bulletin board by my phone and didn't give it another thought.
My neighbor passed away shortly after that night. I still miss him, especially on the 4th when we'd pop firecrackers and set off bottle rockets and act innocent when the police cars slowly drove by. We used to sit on his porch and drink beer, talk politics and the world's problems and what we'd do to fix them. My favorite times with him were watching the meteor showers; he had never done that (as a planned activity) and it was so much fun to be with him and watch the fireballs as they streaked across the sky. The first time we watched a shower, we saw one so close that we could see the smoke trail and heard it as it made a noise like tearing a bed sheet. That had him hooked and he was always game to sit out and watch a summertime meteor shower.
It was several months later when I had my girlfriend over and she asked to use the phone. I told her to help herself and after she was through she turned to me and asked "What is this?" in a hurt and suspicious tone, pointing to a piece of paper on my bulletin board.
It was the note. I had to do some quick explaining and I guess my explanation was so detailed and specific she believed me. Still, I didn't blame her because the note read:
"Thanks for last night. If you need anything, call me. Love, Teresa." with her phone number.
Yep, I'd have wondered about that, too.
