So about a week ago I found an envelope in my door with a $5 and a note with my last name and apartment number, as well as that of my next door neighbor. I assumed maybe it was something from the management to both of us or something and figured I'd hear from someone at some point about what this was all about. So then last night my neighbor knocked on my door. He is a small, frail, old Chinese man. He had a $10 bill in his had that he was holding out to me. He asked me if I got his envelope. I said, "Oh, that was from you. I don't understand what this is for." He then thrust the $10 towards me, pointed at his eye, and said, "I want to watch you." I pushed the envelope and $5 back at him and locked my door, saying no no no no.
You see, from a few months back I noticed that he be around when I showered. We have adjacent bathroom windows across an air shaft. I had been leaving my window open a crack while I showered to let some steam out. Then when I was done and dressed I'd open the whole window and bam! His face would be there at the crack of his window. It kept happening that he'd be there. I couldn't tell if it was some coincidence that we would be in the bathroom at the same time and didn't want to be a bitch about it. So I just stopped leaving the window open and would wait until I was done to open it. And he'd still be there. And he'd sometimes smile at me. I was creeped out. So just recently I noticed a bit of mold growing on the ceiling of my bathroom. I was thinking that this keeping the window closed option is not going to be a good one. So I tried checking to see if the guy was there the other day and he was! Lights on, face right there, smiling. I slammed the window shut.
And last night it all made sense when knocked on my door.
I called the police this morning and they came to take an incident report. The officer also knocked on the guy's door to talk to him but he wouldn't open his door. I also called the apartment management. They said they will be kicking him out. I asked if anything like this had happened before. They said that a few years ago other residents had reported that an old Chinese man had been watching them. Good god. I left this morning for Seattle and will be here for a few days. I'm relieved to not have to be there at all. To even run into the guy in the hall or by the mailboxes... I mean, if he's lived there for years too who knows how angry he will be that I got him kicked out. Damn. Creepy.
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2 comments:
hey, it's labor day and i happened to catch this interesting new entry.
hopefully they get rid of that old chinese peeping tom from the apartment.
in the mean time i guess it would be helpful to just watch your back when you are at the apartment. don't know what this old man is capable of.
let me know if you need anything ~
Hopefully sis helped to reassure about your right to privacy (vs. home invasion)--
CNN's Wolf Blitzer reports on the 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court vote that underscores a right to privacy in sexual behavior (June 26, 2003)
SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN TEXAS SODOMY LAW
The 6-3 decision by the court reverses course from a ruling 17 years ago that states could punish homosexuals for what such laws historically called deviant sex.
Legal analysts said the ruling enshrines for the first time a broad constitutional right to sexual privacy, and its impact would reach beyond Texas and 12 other states with similar sodomy laws applied against the gay and lesbian community, and into mainstream America.
"The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court's majority. "The state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime."
As recently as 1960, every state had an anti-sodomy law, according to The Associated Press. In 37 states, the statutes have been repealed by lawmakers or blocked by state courts, the AP reported...
Thursday's ruling stemmed from the 1998 arrest of two Houston men, John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner, under a 28-year-old Texas law making same-sex intercourse a crime. The court found that law and others like it violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
"This is giant leap forward to a day where we are no longer branded as criminals and where that is no longer accepted by the most powerful court in the country," said Ruth Harlow, of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, who represented the two men.
Lawrence told reporters Thursday that he and Garner were happy with the outcome, but "never chose to be public figures or to take on this fight."
"Not only does this ruling let us get on with our lives, but it opens the door for gay people all over the country to be treated equally," he said.
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