Yesterday I took off work to go to the doctor, which went well. It’s good luck within bad luck really, because I think I like this practice and I’ll be sticking with them. I used to accompany people to doctors visits all the time when I was a translator, and I’m well accustomed to the brusque office staff, interminable waiting periods, and chilly physicians. But actually everyone was nice, and the office ran pretty smoothly. Even the wait was probably less than ten minutes. And later I emerged triumphant with a prescription for steroids for the mystery dermatitis caused by whatever it is that I’m allergic to. And not a moment too soon!
I also tried to change my name at the social security office so I could assume my married name. That didn’t go so well, because I didn’t understand the documents I needed to have in order to submit the other documents. But now I have all the puzzle pieces, I think, so I can put them together the next time I take a day off. Which may be next month, when/if we pick up Bob.
While I was home I got some unpacking and organizing done. There’s really not much more, and it isn’t pertinent stuff. It just has to be organized and out of the basement so we can have the contractor come in this week and do some work. I went out to check on the still surviving plants (the jade, the astilbe, the parsley, and the tomato is barely hanging on, because its been attacked again) and the neighbor lady was out with one of her dogs, so I went to go say hello to them both.
Turns out while we were wrapped up in the minutiae of our daily lives, and I was itchy and feeling sorry for myself, the woman who lives across the street from us was shot in Price Hill. She’s a taxi driver (or was, she may find a new profession), and some people got in and asked for her money, and she gave it to them but she had just started her shift. They told her it wasn’t enough and they shot her in the face and in the shoulder. http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Female-Cab-Driver-Shot-Twice-in-East-Price-Hill/g1g0imu8yEGcF9Jto2F-zA.cspx
We haven’t introduced ourselves up and down the block. We met some of the neighbors when one of the guys down the street saw us moving in, he came up and introduced himself and invited us to the picnic he was putting on for his family. Some of the people on the block were there, and it was just really considerate and charitable. We didn’t meet the woman at that time, but we have seen her around, and her kid plays in her front yard.
I feel this urge, this ambivalent urge to go to her house and introduce ourselves, see if we can help her out at all. Which is weird, because she doesn’t know us and we don’t know her. And she's still in the hospital. I'd probably overcompensate for awkwardness, act like a weirdo and just end up frightening her son. Maybe I could get with some people in the neighborhood and we all pitch in and send her flowers at the hospital. Or maybe that’s silly, because who cares about flowers when you've been shot in the face. Maybe we can bring her and her family some… jello?
I don't expect to get anything out of this. Maybe they are all nice, sure, and this could be a nice neighborly beginning. Hey, maybe she's a dick. I don't know. All I know is that this woman was out trying to earn her wage and somebody shoots her in the face just because she happens to be there. Wrong place wrong time? Or maybe it was premeditated and the gunman called up the cab service for the sole purpose of robbery. Imagine how you feel at the end of an average day at work, only to have some douchebag shoot you in the face. What if that doesn't even count as worker's comp? It really sucks for her. I’d like to, I don’t know. Do something. Do something for somebody who has recently endured suckage.
Only I don’t know what to do. What could I do?
So did I google it? Yes. Yes I did.
Unfortunately I got very inappropriate returns, like “sympathy for neighbor who has passed away,” or similar condolences. I could just go and talk to the family, ask if they want to hear about some surgical references. I could ask the surgeon who put the bone graft in my jaw. Or is that insensitive and none of my business? Maybe I should be anonymous.
I must ponder this.
In other news we may get to meet Murphy the dog tonight. That's good news, I hope! Fingers crossed for no scheduling conflicts.
2 comments:
I think talking to the people in the neighborhood who (whom?) you have met is a good idea. You can all rally together and maybe come up with a meal and cleaning schedule for when she's home, but not nearly well enough to do such things herself? I don't know. It depends on if the neighbors that do know her think it's a good idea, and also the age of her kids, too, I guess. But I would go with a neighborhood meal/cleaning/and maybe even yard work schedule.
Hey Becks,
Not bad ideas. Yesterday the woman's mother was there with her son, and I've seen her out watching the kids play before. Maybe the grandmother lives with them, (or does right now). I'll have to get the straight story from the neighbor lady, and let her know what I'm thinking. Come to that I wonder if folks in the neighborhood aren't already planning on doing something for her. Then I can just jump on the bandwagon so to speak.
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