Sundays

    This story has no completely accurate time line as I'm just remembering the highlights of the fun this alley has provided or us over the last ten years.  Well, Patch had set the tone for our alley, but this was short lived as he moved out only weeks after our arrival.  The next neighbors that I remember was the family directly behind us.  Demetrius, a giant prison muscled man, and clan straight up from Chicago.  I'm a Chicago native and moved here for the same reasons as most transplants, better living conditions, less crime, better jobs, less traffic etc.. Well "Big D" had a teen daughter living with him who's baby daddy shacked up there also.  Baby Daddy had a problem, He loved to steel, and made no bones about helping himself to bikes, tires, rims, batteries, and audio equipment form the locals.  First time I witnessed him (BD) in action was as my Sierra Leone neighbor Sharif caught him along side his abode helping himself to a few new tires and a bike or two.  Sharif would collect items and load shipping containers to ship back home, an enterprising guy. Sharif was well educated in Moscow and seemed a genital soul, his family was great.  His two boys ran track and cross country and was fun to watch them kick by the house at full speed. Quite different than Demetrius's clan. It was a beautiful spring day, people had there windows open and the neighborhood was alive, you can feel somthing in the air.  About 1:30 PM I see Baby Daddy running into his house and hear some really load screaming coming from Sharif's home.  Sharif was screaming at the top of his lungs a diatribe about how African Americans in general sucked.  I went down to see what was going on, should I call the police ?  When I got to Sharif's, there were traps that he cover stuff he couldn't fit into his garage, were pulled back and Sharif is screaming and ranting.  It is hard to describe what it is like to have someone go that ballistic, it would have been funny seen from a video.  Later that day I went over and asked BD what's up. He told me that he thought it was for free and what was the big deal the stuff was garbage anyway.  I pretty sure I lost, a car, two Batteries and a car audio system to BD.