My name is Rainey. I am a 28 year old writer from Queens, New York. I know my name is a little different, but my dad named me that, because it rained all week before I was born. He said that God was cleaning the earth before he let me come down here. I like it. I love traveling, and I recently moved to New Orleans not long ago, my life has changed in every way since. Life in New Orleans is a wild ride. As a New Yorker, I never expected to say that, but this city is something else. Everywhere has its issues, but here in the Bywater/Marigny area, things are not normal. The vibe is off, and there is like this unspoken segregated feel to this neighborhood, it was surprising. The area is a mix of expensive homes and rundown shotgun houses, and tourists love it. I was once one of those people. Everyone wants to prove how much more “Nawlins” they are than you, even though they’re not originally from here either.
There are old black neighborhoods that have become trendy white areas, and the social territorial vibe is palpable. Tourists bring their biases with them, trying to create a “new” New Orleans that’s divided. They pretend it’s not about race, or about who belongs and who doesn’t. It’s frustrating to witness. It’s like living in a neighborhood full of mean girls from high school. Theres the usual suspects…the busy body, the chatter box, the Gossip queen, and the old snooty neighbors that tell all of your business. On top of all of that messy stuff, thieves run wild in this city. It is so crazy, there are car jackers, porch pirates, druggies hopping fences to break into your home, and no cops around to protect you. My stress level sky rocketed after a few months of living here. This is a beautiful city, but the BS you have to deal with makes it a scary place to exist, especially on Burgundy street.
Last week, I come home to find my door wide open, and I know I locked my door and double checked it. At this point I am so angry, because I know people steal anything around here. I don’t know what they got from me, but I am hoping it’s not my computer. That’s the only thing I have.
I walk in very slowly…..I say in a scared voice….”Helloooo?”
I don’t hear anything so I immediately run over to the side of the sofa where I keep my laptop, and thank goodness it’s there. At this point I feel like screaming in anger, but tears of frustration start to fall down my face. I can’t believe this, I am too broke right now to replace anything. I do see some of my mail opened, and paperwork thrown around. It looks like they were looking for some information about me.
I feel so confused, I can’t figure out what the hell they stole from me. Did they take anything?
I am starting to feel superrrrrrr paranoid at this point, and I am looking at everybody through the window that walks by the house. I have all of my personal information scattered all over the floor, and I feel so violated. I am not that interesting, so what were they looking for? I am wondering if I should waste my time and call the cops that will never show up. As I sit in the pile of papers, I start thinking about how the neighbors were asking me a million questions about my life when I moved here.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone, but it felt like an interrogation?
Thats how I felt. I couldn’t wait to get away from them. Some people only use conversations to fish for information. They try to dig into your personal life, pretending to be nice. The local busy body was hounding me with questions, she talked so much I felt like sitting down. She took so much energy from me. Usually she’s outside on her porch at this time, but today she is nowhere to be found. Hmmmm…seems kind of fishy. She’s usually the first person in all the neighborhood drama. I don’t want to blame her, but she is the first person I’m adding to my list of who could have done this. A thief would’ve taken my computer, or the TV. Someone was in here looking for dirt on me. I can feel my stress level rise, and I don’t want to have a panic attack again. I tend to overthink things, So I put on some music to cool down.
ALEXA! Play “Slugs of Love” by Little Dragon
I am So Stressed out, I fall into a deep sleep…Zzzzzz
Out of nowhere I hear the doorbell ring. Ding, ding, ding, ding!!! I get up with my AT&T phone bill stuck to my face. I am so not ready for any kind of fake friendly conversation at this point. So whoever it is, it better be important. The door looked so big, I wasn’t sure if I was awake or dreaming. As I open the door I see a large man, standing there. I didn’t know him, so I cracked the door open a little and kept the chain on.
I said to him…Hello, how can I help you?
“Hi, my name is Bobby. I’m your neighbor. I live right down the street, and I found a letter with your name and address in my grass. I didn’t want someone to throw it away, so I decided to bring it over to you. I hope I didn’t scare you”.
I told him…Thank you, you didn’t scare me. Can you leave it in the mail box?
He seemed nice, but at this point I feel like I can’t trust anyone. I wanted to ask him more questions, but I froze. I was nervous. I really need to call the police and make a report of what happened. If I never say anything this can happen again. So, I make the call, and an hour later they sent over an officer to take down what happened.
I didn’t mention the man that dropped off my letter, I didn’t feel like that would be nice to add him to this mess. Just as I closed the door after the cop walked out, guess who pops up?…Busy body #1 and the local realtor Gossip Queen…My next door neighbors running over to get the scoop and gossip.
HEYYYYY Girl, You ok? What happened?
I’m like, get the F#^% out of here!!! I didn’t say that, but I wanted to haha. I told them someone broke in, but I added some extra info to make them a little scared. I told them that the thief left something in here, and the police took it with them. Ms. Busy Body looked so nervous after I said that. At this point, nobody can be trusted so they all get the cold shoulder from me. They could tell that I didn’t want to be bothered. So they said they were so sorry it happened, and eventually walked back across the street. You can always tell when people have ulterior motives by the way they ask questions. They also asked who the man was that came to the door, and what he wanted. They tried to push my attention to him instead of whoever broke in my place.
They said that he owns the house down the street, and he keeps to himself. They don’t know much about him, but they don’t trust him. The Gossip Queens said…”He seems Creepy to me”. I knew they were going to try and create some false story about him. Ms. Busy Body said she’s going to do some “Googling” on him, and she’ll share with me what she finds. I’m like…No the cops will take care of it. I don’t want to blame him. He was actually very nice. I cut the convo short, and I grabbed the mail from the mailbox. I can’t stand these nosey neighbors. what a bunch of miserable people.
I Walk over to the sofa, and jump on the computer because, lol I wanted to google Bobby too. As much as I didn’t want to listen to her I wanted to know. I’m not saying he’s scary or creepy, I just needed to know. As a writer, this type of stuff is right up my alley. I spent the entire night digging for information, I did not see this coming.
EXIT MUSIC FOR THIS EPISODE…
Come back next week for Episode 2
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