In all fairness, this should be a story for Whirl to tell. I’m going to tell it anyway. Those of you who may be familiar with where Whirl and I live will remember the apartment building across the street. This building sees a fair amount of traffic, with renters moving in and out often. That is not particularly atypical. This has become less extraordinary in the last ten years with the re-discovery of the entire neighborhood. The more recent development with the various colleges—and the cooperative megalith we call “the Superdorm”—has seen a significant increase in college students in the immediate area. When I attended college I moved several times a year. I do not think that trend has changed. They move a lot.
This brings me to the story. Yesterday, a renter had been forcibly displaced from his home—presumably by his landlord. While not an everyday sort of happening, this is a not uncommon event. I have seen it before many times. And like those many times before, the landlord had expressed his eviction notice by moving his luckless tenant’s belongings out onto the street. This street is the same street faced by our large windows. Our home became front row for what was to transpire next.
An argument erupted between Former Tenant and Choleric Landlord. Being right outside the windows, this argument attracted Whirl’s attention. She watched. So far, there was nothing particularly noteworthy. I would expect an argument. I would particularly expect an argument when all of my stuff littered the sidewalk like some haphazard, impromptu garage sale.
What I would not necessarily expect was this: a locust-like plague of students from the Superdorm descended upon the hapless man’s belongings and carted them off.
Pictures. Bookshelves. Boxes of clothing. A couch. Everything this man owned was appropriated by a collection of students in the span of a few minutes. An hour later, nothing was left.
To the south of the Choleric Landlord’s building stands a Starbucks Coffee. The owner of this building has been refurbishing the second floor for almost a year now. This past spring he put sod on the roof. Whirl and I grew skeptical as to what this might mean. We wondered about how the owner might care for this lawn-in-the-sky. We wondered about how he might water his lawn. We wondered whether he would mow his lawn. Now we know.
With spring turning to summer, and decent weather, we have captured our neighbor in the act of mowing his roof. We share this picture with you as well.
Beta|Erinyes 
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