Wednesday, 24 April 2002 | The neighborhood

A few of the things I'm happy to have back.

***

Three of the friendly neighbors from the hippie house came by tonight with the following information: one of their VW vans has been broken into three times this week, the neighbors across the street had their car stolen, and there is definitely a man living in the crawl space beneath my house.

This isn't the first time something's been stolen, and that's not the first man who's made himself at home next to the water heater. In fact, the first year I lived here a man actually walked in my house and into my room and asked me for money. But those things have been rare, spaced out, unusual. I've always been on guard but felt relatively safe. I want to be able to live in a lower class community and feel safe. I don't want an apartment complex or a pool or white walls and beige carpet. But I also want to keep my car from getting stolen.

So far the plan is to use the club, carry my CD player inside whenever my car is parked at home, and to leave a note for the man downstairs, to warn him of coming locks so that he can collect his things.