Grumpy Gramps and the lady next door

So, Easter Sunday turned out to be quite interesting for me. Not interesting, like "cool" interesting. Not interesting like "neat" interesting. More interesting like "annoying and weird" interesting.

See, my grandfather is 95 years old. I guess when you get to be that age you have a right to be a grouch. Problem is, when he's a grouch to people in public, it's kinda embarrassing. I know, I know, he's my grandfather and he's probably earned it. See, he goes to this same restaurant EVERY DAY. He eats the exact same meal EVERY DAY. So where do we go on special occasions? You guessed it, SAME PLACE. He likes it because it's cafeteria style, so he doesn't have to wait and he can pick whatever he wants. Fine. I mean, it's not that great and definitely not my choice for a meal, but I go to spend time and eat with them.

The thing is, recently the restaurant has changed it's "format" so to speak. So now, the wait staff actually kinda waits on you. Apparently their pay was cut and so they need to make tips. I can sympathize, I was a waitress/bartender for almost 10 years. This pisses my grandfather off. So the waitress comes up to us when we first sat down, he tells her to go away. If he wants a refill, he'll get up and get it himself. God forbid one of us should ask them for something, he tells us "Don't encourage them!" Then, if they try to take anyone's plate when they're through, he yells at them. "Don't bother us!" So naturally, I feel bad. Yesterday, one of the waitresses comes up and unfortunately for her, thinks he's done eating (guess she's new) and he smacks her hand and tells her to "Get away from our table! We don't want you coming around here! Wait until we're gone!" Man, if I would have been that waitress, I probably would have run away crying, poor thing. Is this how we become when we get old?? Oh, and folks, he still drives. Yessiree bob!

So we get back to my parent's house from the lunch from hell (as all the while my sister is yelling at my nephew because he's hyper) and there is a woman and her little boy sitting outside the house next door and both of them are crying. Puzzling. The people next door just moved in and are renting the house. So my sister goes out there and these people only speak Spanish. She talked to them (I was on the phone so I don't exactly know what was going on) and offered the use of our phone. SO, the lady calls some people and gets nothing. She tells my mom, in Spanish, "If anyone calls back, don't tell them anything." Umm, what? Ok. So this lady calls back and says that someone called her from our #, blah blah blah. My mom says that someone came to the door and used our phone. Whatever.

So then, like an hour later, they come knocking on our door again. They've probably been outside for at least 5 hours by this time. So, I answer the door and the lady wants to use our phone again. Fine, she makes some calls, nothing. They leave and then come right back a knockin'. I answered the door again. She asks if we have cookies for her son. I get em some cookies because at this point, what I'm thinkin' is going on is that her cousin lives next door. They were supposed to go visit. They were dropped off there and the cousin wasn't home. They'd been waiting outside for her all day.

So, I ask if they want something to drink or whatever. She says no. So I ask her (as the original story was relayed from my sister) if they're stuck outside.

"Oh no" she says "I have keys." (in spanish).

Uh, what? If you have keys, why have you been outside all day?? And why are you asking me for cookies?? And why are you prank calling people on our phone?

So I asked her what was going on and she proceeds to tell me that her cousin does live next door and has been there for about 8 days. Her cousin went "somewhere" on Saturday and hadn't come back yet. She was worried and had been waiting for her all this time.

So, the person she had been calling and hanging up on calls again, pissed, because she says again someone is calling from our # and hanging up. My mom says the same thing and the lady on the other end says "Well, you better watch out who you let use your phone."

So, my mom and I decided that this lady next door was prank calling her lover, who is married, and his wife keeps calling back. She's been having an affair w/a married guy who set her up in this house next door to us. He hasn't come around in a few days and now she's worried that maybe he changed his mind about her. Maybe he hasn't paid any bills yet and so she has no electricity or water or phone or anything. And no food. Hey, we were bored. What can I say?