Got a Light?

It all started one evening last week.  There was a knock on the door.  When I answered it, my upstairs neighbor and her gaggle of greatgrandchildren greeted me.  It was one of these kids who dubbed me "mean old lady" for not sharing my Krispy Kremes.  I've heard her greatgrandmother yell and I think she needs to reevaluate her definition.

Back to the story.

They were at my door and in need of a flashlight.  Who am I to deny a greatgrandmother and her gaggle of greatgrandchildren a flashlight at night?  I produced a flashlight, it was used, and then it was returned ten minutes later.

Now I'm more of what you would call a homebody.  I like writing, surfing the internet, and reading.  None of these require going outside, especially during the hot California summer.  Aside from work, I can be consistently counted on to venture from the apartment to do laundry.  Want to guess what I hear every time I step out loaded down with a laundry basket or seeking mail?

"Hey lady!  Do you got a flashlight?"

Is it "mean, old lady" girl?  No.  It is her little brother, who likes to throw rocks at my front door and apparently play with flashlights in broad daylight.  My response, after perusing a yard full of broken toys, "No.  I don't usually carry a flashlight on me."  Yet the young lad is not deterred, for every time he sees me, he follows me, questioning me about my flashlight.  Here's our most recent exchange.

I struggled out the front door, lugging my laundry basket, trying to shut the door before my contraband kitty can escape.  I am greeted with, "Hey lady!  Do you got a flashlight?"

"No."

Not satisfied, the future Hans Blix follows me around the 4-plex to the laundry room off the garage, countering,

"But my grandma says you do."

"No, I don't.  Not anymore." I concluded as I shut the laundry room/

The moral of the story?

Lend your flashlight to a greatgrandmother and her gaggle of greatgrandchildren and you wind up with a 4-year-old stalker with a future in either investigative journalism or street hooliganism with a focus in rock throwing.