MAN UP, WOMAN!

My apartment mate is in her jammies, reading in bed in her own room, after coming into my digs to rant about the medications that the hospital sent her home with after she had gone to the clinic there to see a doctor, having suffered from the flu for twelve days now. Four prescriptions! Nasal spray, cough syrup, and two pills. The cough syrup tastes like fake cherries, the nasal spray has camphor, eucalyptus, and menthol. One of the pills is even more nasty. And the Chinese Indonesian woman from downstairs rang our doorbell twice while I was out galavanting about (having dumplings down in Chinatown). The second time she opened up, told the woman "no" before she even had much chance to speak, and she now wants me to go downstairs and see what she wants.

No. You're obviously much easier to deal with than I am. You are fellow Chinese, and female. Whereas I am a Dutchman, representative of the nation that pillaged and despoiled her natal place for three hundred and fifty years. A cruel savage. The changes of pillage and despoilating are virtually nil, so there is no reason for me to even ask.

You, on the other hand .....

And as far as the horrid medicines are concerned, they want you to get better. Just pipe down and man up. Woman up. Whatever. You've faced worse. We had durian in the apartment once. And you're Chinese. Creative, mystical, and flexible.

I, on the other hand, have dealt with multiple crazies today.
As a calm and rapacious 'Ollander, I'm long suffering.
My phlegmatic self has suffered enough.

There was that fellow in the park who had lost it and was at the end of his tether. Probably a combination of a horrid life spiralling out of control, unbalanced body chemistry going totally haywire, and several missing screws since childhood. Plus substances and low blood sugar due to malnutrition. Very ambulatory and loud. Because of his fits I moved several times and kept him in view. Other people simply skedaddled.

A happy clam down on Montgomery Street mostly naked. Much too energetic.

And a rather putrid fellow on the bus picking his nose, and wiping his face with sweatshirt. Other passengers on the overcrowded rush-hour conveyance gave him a wide berth.
At least two body spaces.


And there was the goofball who saw me and came over to get the usual two dollars I give him because he's part of the neighborhood and not really functional. He made some reference to American Graffiti as he left afterwards.



Anyhow, I sincerely hope she gets well soon. When she coughs she sounds like a horse. Horking up hairballs. It's painful. And I can't smoke inside when she doesn't go to work. She needs to get out so she doesn't go stircrazy. If I have to, I'll lurk in the airwell with my pipe.
While daydreaming of pillaging and conquering.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================