Fighting Crime in Our Own House

If you have managed to read my previous entries, you may recall that we live in a shady building, so to speak.  We were so pleased when, a couple of months ago, the authorities shut down the porn studio/brothel downstairs.  Our delight was short-lived when they re-opened 2 weeks later.  It seems like the activities there have degenerated even further, if that is possible.  We see now that it is.

We, my room mate, Lena, and I have been in somewhat of a quandary as to what to do.  We both have a strong sense of justice.  I come by in honestly.  

My mother is quite the sheriff in Dallas County.  She helped to nab several members of a mafia ring that lurked around the house of Mr. Solar, our next door neighbor who ran a hearse & limousine company.  On Christmas Eve of my junior year she came to the rescue of our neighbor across the alley.  "Help! Help!" Zelda cried, "That man robbed us!"  Quicker than Superman, my mom, dishtowel in hand with moccasin-shod feet, stopped her holiday baking and took off after the crook.  "Watch the cookies in the oven!"  she shouted over her shoulder without giving up a second in the pursuit.  I could go into more details about how she chased him into the garage of one of my dad's coworkers or how she recruited a jogger and a man in a Santa hat to help her or even how she gave the man a real "school-teacher lecture" once the chase was over, but I will sum it all up to say that the man was hauled off to prison.  Once again the streets of East Dallas safer for my mom's vigilance. 

Lena must have some of the family blood in her veins, as well, for she has been known to lay down the law to our law-breaking neighbors, herself.  Like any defender of justice, the potential consequences are much less compelling than defending the cause of what is right.  

What makes matters a little more complex is that we live in a culture where, for the 10 years that I have lived here, I have been warned over and over again that, in case of emergency, DO NOT call the police.  The chance is great that you will be causing yourself much greater problems than you will solve by involving them.  So, when I received a call today from the police asking me about our crooked neighbors, I was suspicious and a little nervous.  Apparently, someone has complained anonymously to the police.  Seeing as, apart from the crack house and the brothel, there are only 2 other flats in our building that are inhabited, "anonymous neighbor" could only come from one of 3 places.  Since Lena tongue-lashed a few unruly residents on their way to the meth-lab, they told the police that they thought we were the ones who ratted them out.  Wrong!  But it is good to know that there are some fellow crime-fighters among us!  

I'll let you know if justice wins the day...