What a Weird Day - I Got Punched By My Neighbor
Still a bit on an adrenaline high as I write this, so it's probably a bit discombobulated and jerky. Oh well. Plus it reads like a teen's diary, a lot of “He said, then I said“ in here... you have been warned...
Had a meeting with some colleagues for lunch today, which went well. Upon arriving home, though, something totally odd occurred - I got punched. I usually park in the alley back in my reserved spot, but there were some SDG&E trucks back there working on a powerline, so I parked on the street. Walked up to the building where I live - there's seven condo units - and got my mail. You've got to walk down this path to get to get to your door, so I start down and there's one of my neighbors standing there on the phone with a Coors Light in hand.
I say “Hi” as approaching, and then he gets off the phone and blocks my way. He starts mumbling something about how I owe him money, which I have no idea what he's talking about. This guy is a bit bigger than me, maybe two inches taller and 50 pounds heavier, a big guy. I ask him to move out of my way, and he says not until I pay him. His breath reeks of cheap beer.
I tell him he's drunk and he needs to get out of my way. He tells me I'm an asshole. Hrm. So I try to walk around him through the grass, and he blocks my way again. I tell him again to get out of my way and he lets me pass. But as I pass the guy shoves me from behind.
I turn around and give him a few choice words and tell him to go sleep it off. I start walking to my door and he follows me, telling me I'm an asshole. When I get to my door, he pushes me again. Ok, enough of this, I give him a good shove back and tell him to get out of my face. I turn around to open my door, and as I'm turning, WHAM, a blow right to the face. A good, solid hit, didn't even see it coming. Knocked me off balance, is gonna leave a black eye. It took me a sec to regain my composure and turn around and he was running back to his place.
Weird. So I went inside and called the cops. This guy's got a wife and a 6 month old baby at home, so I figured if nothing else should make sure they're ok, too. The cops show up about half an hour later, take a statement, ask me if I want him arrested. I say, “No.” This is the first time this sort of things has happened, and he's been here for a year. I figured something must have gone wrong today, like he lost his job or his wife left him or something. Never seen him drinking, except on Sundays when he watches football.
We've always kind of had some tension, as he's rented out his place to some rowdy tenants and I'm the HOA president, so I've had to deal with him in that manner many times before. But there's never been any fines or whatnot, so I have no idea what he was rambling on about money I owed him. We've never yelled at each other or been anything other than socially polite... granted, there was some tension, so maybe a few too many Coors, some bad news regarding family or job, and he decides it's time to kick some Scott ass.
Anyway, he didn't answer when the cops knocked on his door, so they just said they'd file an incident report so if something like this happened again, there would be some history. Hope his wife and kid aren't home or, if they are, they're not catching the brunt of his anger.
I hope the guy apologizes. I'd forgive him if he just came up to me after he's sobered up and sincerely apologized for being an asshat. This just was so out of whack, because I've never seen this guy like this before. Good thing it was me, and not, say, my wife. I don't know how I'd react if he had assualted her. I'd like to think I'd stay rational... really I don't think I give a flip if someone insults me... now if they hit me, that's another thing, but someone could stand there and insult me all day long and it wouldn't bother me, but if someone insulted my wife, that would be another story. And if someone attacked her, or our dog, or started stealing my stuff, I don't know how I'd react.
There were two things that were particularly disconcerting about today's little run in with the neighbor:
- It came totally out of left field. Imagine coming home from work, walking toward your door, and this happened. What was funny was in my car on the way home from the meeting I was thinking how it was nice to live in such a safe neighborhood.
- It happened at my home. You're suppose to feel safe there. My wife said I should have just walked away after he wouldn't let me pass, and I probably would have done that if I was out on the street somewhere, but if some guy's standing outside your home and threatening you... I dunno, it's like your home is to be protected. Granted, all I did was shove the guy, but I was “ready to rumble“ after he decked me, even though I probably would have gotten the living hell beaten out of me.
So in the end, hopefully this all ends nicely and he just mans up and apologizes and we can get on with our little lives.
It's kind of funny, because tomorrow the wife and I are driving up to LA to visit with the inlaws and have dinner, and now I'll have a black eye to explain. “Hi, hi. Oh, yeah, this, yeah, the neighbor beat me up yesterday.” :-p