Who Are You and What Do You Want?

Last Friday evening around 5:00 pm at my mother’s home, it was quiet. The wind was quietly blowing cool air as the sun was beginning to descend. It was still light outside, mom had just come inside with her caretaker, Nancy. As they sat down in the two recliners in the living room, an older model Buick drove up in front of the house. A lady got out of the vehicle and headed up the sidewalk toward the house. Nancy thought she heard someone outside, so she got up to peek out the door. As she approached the door, the handle began to turn and she stopped dead in her tracks. The woman was entering mom’s house. Nancy asked if she could help her, the woman didn’t reply but sat down on the living room sofa.

Mother was on the telephone chattering away with a close friend. Nancy tapped her on the leg, but mother kept talking and didn’t respond. So Nancy asked the lady, “May I ask who you are?” The woman looked at her and in a low, quiet, scratchy voice said, “You know who I am.” By this time Nancy’s heart was racing, she felt herself beginning to perspire. “Who is this woman?” she thought to herself. Again she tried to get mother’s attention, but mother just continued to talk on the phone, oblivious to the woman who was now staring at her and Nancy.

After a few more futile attempts to get mother's attention, Nancy reaches over and grabs the receiver out of mother’s hand and hangs up the phone. She then asks her, “Do you know this woman?” Mother replied, “No, do you?” Nancy rolled her eyes at her and then mother asked the woman, “who are you?” To which the woman replied in a slow menacing voice, “You know who I am.”

By this time, Nancy is beginning to panic. She can’t leave mother alone in the house at any time, much less when a psycho woman is in her house. Fear and thoughts of what could happen were racing through Nancy’s mind, when out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of my brother in his front yard next door. Up she jumped and racing toward the door, she is screaming, “Jim, come here, come here!” Jim runs to meet her, Nancy screams, “There’s some psycho woman in the house and we don’t know who she is or what she wants.”

So Jim goes into the house, gets right in front of the lady and boldly says, “Who are you and what do you want?!” The woman says again in a scratchy rough voice, "you know who I am?" Puzzled they all look at each other, then Jim says, “Who are you and what do you want?” Then the lady bursts out laughing and says, “I’m your landlord.” They all started laughing.

My mother’s landlord is a man and he was dressed up for Halloween as a woman and he thought it would be funny to go play a trick on her and Nancy. I sure an glad they didn't get the iron skillet after her or something! I spoke with Nancy on the phone today and she told me she was still scared, said she’d been making sure she doesn’t leave any doors unlocked so no one can come in and sit on the couch and stare at them again!