Can I use your phone?

no, thats not a quote from Peter Sellers in Pink Panther... it's a quote from my "across-the-road" neighbour in Brantford....... sigh..... here's the story....

When I moved to Brantford in June of 2004, one of the few people I met in the whole town house complex, was a young couple across the road.... kind of a rough couple.... tattoos, piercings all over the place, not really the kind of people I hang out with ( well think about that for a second...... I don't really hang out with ANYBODY .. but if I DID ..... it would not likely be them... )

I rent my townhouse, from a guy named Andy; he owns 4 of the condo's/townhouses in the complex... and I live right next door to the one he lives in, ( so quite obviously, I BEHAVE!! ) ....anyway... first week I moved in, I was in the front yard, talking to Andy's fiance.... the young couple across the road came over to borrow a ladder from Andy... but because Andy is a contractor and has expensive tools etc etc etc, his fiance wouldn't let them borrow his ladder. I felt really bad for them... and since my ladder is a $39.95 Beaver Lumber special that I bought in 1988, I figured there'd be no harm in letting them borrow mine.....
two days later, when the ladder still wasn't back, I began to wonder if I'd made a mistake....

To make a long story short ( which I rarely do ) .... I got the ladder back, but I made an impression.... more than once in the last two years, they knocked on my door, to ask for money, or to sell something to me, probably to get money for cigarettes....
I hate being a sucker, but I have had hard times in my life, so I feel bad for people like that......

A few months ago, the boyfriend moved out.... which has put Jodi ( I just learned her name last week ) in some serious financial straights..... it wasn't long after HE moved out, that her phone got cut off..... and she started coming to my door, asking to use the phone.... not often, maybe 1 or 2 times a week.... here and there.... Since I'm not home much, i figured I should just live with it.....

Two weekends ago, when I was so sick, there was a knock on the door.... I was feeling lousy, and didn't feel like hosting a phoner ( I made that word up ! ) ... so I told her I was really sick and that she wouldn't want to be around....

...a few more knocks later that week, some of which I answered, but most I didn't.... after all, I PAY for my phone right? I keep the bill current, don't I ? Shouldn't she have to do that too????

sigh....

the kicker came Saturday morning last weekend..... 7:01 AM .... door bell ringing, frantically... my kids had been up in the night, anna had a head ache and was awake until almost 3 am .....So a ringing door at 7 am was not something any of us appreciated....

I slept through the first few rings... finally Taylor came down and said : DAD, answer the door... somebody is at the door...

I ripped the door open, snapped at her that EVERYBODY was sleeping, and now was NOT a good time...

OF ALL THE GALL? right??

sigh..... the kids and I talked about it often over the next few days, how big an intrusion it was, that this JODI character would knock so often, and ring the bell at SEVEN AM .......


Well, last night, she came to the door again..... I opened it, and started into a long tirade about how it really wasn't convenient, and that....

..... her apology interupted me....

She was sorry for ringing the bell so early on Saturday... her new boyfriend had beat her up, and did all manner of things to her, not to mention barrng the door and keeping her from leaving....
She apparently snuck out just before 7 Saturday morning, hoping to call the police....

gulp.....

the new boyfriend is now in jail, charged with assault, and several other things, she said..

" and you won't have to worry about me using your phone any more.... I'm moving in with my gramma...."

***** I don't know whether all of that really happened with the new boyfriend... I do know two police cars took somebody away from her condo Saturday afternoon,

..... and her condo is now for sale....

I don't mind telling you, I feel like a very poor representative of Jesus .... a long time ago, I set out to be kind, and loving, and to give, until I had nothing left to give... I wanted to be as close to Jesus as I could, with my attitudes, and actions....

but when it came to showing Jesus to Jodi..... I failed...

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night....