Jess’ Neighborhood

Life can be a strange animal.  Occasionally you meet some of its fleas and derelicts, and it reminds you with a slap in the face, that humanity is not always filled with those humane.

Last night, after watching a movie with my sister, we heard someone yelling from outside my apartment.  It sounded like 'Help!', so we stopped to listen.  Sure enough, the yell came again, my neighbour upstairs, Judy, banged on the floor, as the plea sounded yet again while we threw on shoes and went to inspect.  I thought it might be coming from my other neighbour who has had ongoing health problems that have escalated lately.  Often it sounds as though a dryer full of running shoes is running in his apartment, but that is just a sound he makes I believe trying to clear his sinuses.  It is rumoured he does a lot of cocaine and has Hepatitis C.  It was only just over a month ago that he had called himself an ambulance and spent yet another lengthy visit in the hospital.  Sure enough, on leaving my apartment, we heard the call for help come again, coming from his apartment. 

My sister turned and asked, 'Is it okay if I go in?' 

"I don't know," I answered, puzzled.  I was just thinking of the man who needed help inside, not considering the logistics of proper etiquette.

My sister turned the knob and pushed the door open. 

Tang hit the nostrils immediately, a smell rank with vomit.  The bachelor apartment, the opposite design of mine, opens onto a small kitchen, followed by a larger main room.  The apartment was dimly lit by the television from the main room and there Rick lay, just outside the kitchen, facing away from us.  He was naked and covered with dark coloured matter.

Rick asked for water and ice, and said he was dying.  My sister found a plastic cup by the sink, filled it with water and we found ice in the freezer.  He asked for more ice, so I put a bunch in a plastic bag and gave it to him.

At this point, some of the neighbours had started coming out to see what was going on, so I popped back out of the apartment to quickly deal with them, and left my sister a few paces away with a very sick man.  My sister popped outside shortly after and said that Rick had asked her to leave but to leave the door open.  Shortly after I ran around and down to my place to call 911, requesting an ambulance, leaving Rick with one of the neighbours who had come out, a careworker.  I was on with the operator a while, and answered as much as I really could without being near Rick, but my phone cannot reach upstairs directly without losing its connection, so I passed the phone up to my caretaker neighbour while I ran around to answer more detailed questions.  I never did get a chance to answer them, as she continued to speak with the 911 operator for the rest of the call.  

"Who knows how long he's been there.  I haven't seen him for days." said Judy, my upstairs neighbour.

It took awhile for Rick to be on his way.  Firstly, there was the point of access, front or back door?  Then there was the fact of the front door being locked and getting the keys from the manager, who asked me if I would turn out the lights and lock the door.   He is a very tall, large man, so the attendants had to call for assistance.  The second ambulance drove by twice, before finding the place, 

The attendants told me that they were just getting him an IV started before they got going.  I went in for the first time fully lit.    There were dark blackish red stains on the carpet, some old and some fresh with clumps of matter I didn’t stop to inspect fully.  Most of the rest of the apartment was strewn with items, like it had been ransacked.  The smell still hit hard, and I tried to be quick about locking up and turning off the lights.  I was just about to leave, when I realized I`d missed the television, so I went back.  I tried two different buttons before finding the Power switch in the dim light.  I turned off the lights and locked the back door, stepping out onto the porch.

``Don`t close the door!`` I heard, turning to see Judy and the caregiver neighbour. 

``Don`t close the door!``

``Why not, Jude?” I asked

“Well, Rick owes me $65, and in case he doesn’t make it this time.”  I couldn’t believe my ears.  I could see my sister below, shaking her head and mouthing ‘no’.

I said something like “Seriously, Judy.  It smells rank in here.  It’s really really bad.  Maybe you can talk to the manager about that.”

To which she said, “Oh, it’s alright, I’ll just pay it myself.” And headed inside. 

The chain of events was seriously tripping me out a little.  We walked my sister’s dogs individually.  Her older one seemed agitated after all the fuss, so we took him out and he quickly did his thing.  Her other pooch is still a puppy and if we don’t walk her by herself, the two will just play the whole time and she won’t get down to business.

My sister and I walked a little longer with the puppy than we anticipated, as we tried to fathom my neighbour who wanted to go into a sick man’s house while he was away and take his money.  We couldn’t believe the audacity of her for such a request.  So selfish and callous.   It then dawned on us that we had come into direct contact with Hepatitis C.  Blood, urine, feces, vomit.

We just found out that Rick didn’t make it.  My sister wished that he could have gone out with a bit more dignity.  I mentioned that at least he didn’t have to die on his floor begging for help, and that perhaps he had a good faith in humanity, knowing that there are good people still in the world.

We’re going for testing soon, to see if we have contracted Hepatitis.  Despite the personal risk that we put ourselves in, we’re both glad that we went to his aid.  We wouldn’t have done anything differently.