My first apartment in Tulsa was in the hood. 61st and Peoria has a well-earnedreputation as the worst intersection in town.
I didn’t realize this when I moved there. I picked the place because it was so dang cheap. I got about a 50% raise from my job in
Sherman Texas and now my rent was about to drop a hundred bucks a month? Charlie Sheen would call this winning.
I stayed there for 1 ½ years. Enough time for my lease to come up twice. For them to raise my rent
twice. The third time I said, “no way!” I paid early every month in full. Most residents in that complex did not do
that. And they were taking advantage of
me! They would always be glib about
it. They would include a note telling me
that while they were raising my rent $20 or $30 a month, it was nothing
compared to the headache of moving: paying for renting a truck, security
deposits, application fees, utility deposits, etc…Forget that. I didn’t mind hearing gun shots and sirens in
the late hours when I was paying $385, $415, $430 a month. But no more!
Add to that the pressure from my girlfriend telling me she’d dump me if
I didn’t move. Easy decision. Of course, after I put in my month notice,
they offered to waive the increase. No
thanks!
Anyway, it was the summer and I was out on my balcony. I had a satellite mounted on my roof I needed
to adjust slightly. The signal wasn’t great
and the tree in the courtyard blocked it on windy days. I got info online for how to get the receiver
to rescan and what the optimal angles for the dish would be. This wasn’t a problem though. It was the heat. I didn’t want to waste money by letting the
cold air out of my apartment so I closed the sliding glass door. Oops.
When I finished adjusting the dish I needed to get back in
to rescan the dish box. The door would
not budge. Crap. I did noT remove the security bar! When I closed the glass door, the security
bar fell over and now I was locked outside!
This simple security device did its job.
I couldn’t get in. I was
stuck. I was screwed. This was a Sunday afternoon. The offices were locked, nobody was
there. I didn’t know any of my
neighbors. None of them. Even if I managed to get down I had no idea
who to call, let alone have a way to call them.
My wallet and keys were inside on my coffee table within sight but
unreachable. What would I do?
I peeked over my balcony, was tempted to jump down so many
times. No way. I would break my legs. I would step over the rail and come close
only to chicken out. What was I going to
do? I had no phone. No keys.
Nowhere to go. Would I have to
stay the night on that balcony and scream for management or maintenance to help
me in the morning? If I had to.
Some young lady walked by in the courtyard. I called out to her, “excuse me ma’am. Can you help me—”
“I don’t even know you!”
she shot back immediately and walked off. This happened a couple more times.
I thought to myself, “what bitches and assholes! They won’t even hear me out. I resigned myself to the fact that I would
have to jump down. A young woman walked
by and I gave it one last shot, “Excuse me ma’am. Can you help me please?”
“What do you need?”
I explained my predicament.
I was going to ask her if she could call the complex, maybe the
answering machine gave an emergency phone number. She told me she’d just check to see if my
front door was unlocked.
“I always lock my door, especially in this neighborhood!
She ran up and wouldn’t you know it? My door was not locked! She immediately let me in.
“Thank you so much! I asked so many people and they ignored
me. Told me to screw off.”
“Oh, they were probably scared.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks so much!”
This wonderful young woman could have robbed me while I watched,
but she didn’t. She could have ignored
me but she didn’t. I was so blessed she
came along. And her response woke me
up. I only looked at it from my
perspective. Would I have helped somebody
if the roles were reversed? Go into a stranger’s
apartment? Heck no! She came along and helped me when I didn’t
deserve it. She showed me grace. I was blessed.
I played with my dish box and got a good signal again. Until the next windy day. I never went on that balcony again unless I left
that door open. I would not put myself
at the mercy of strangers again.
Especially in that neighborhood.
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| Me, my sister April and nephew Joseph. 2004, a year before these events. |
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