His wife and family have since been away for the week. Every day, he finds an excuse for ringing at the door. He likes to give me a cucumber or a zucchini - you should have seen the children's disgust! No need to have studied Freud to understand what he means, or do we have dirty minds when we wonder why a cucumber or a zucchini, or even an unripe plum!!!.
He has a bad breath, strange toes, is half bald and wears glasses, he is 70 after all. One day, he rang three times. “If you want to have a drink, I’m there, I’m waiting…” I did it once, at the beginning, he took every opportunity to touch my bare skin. Since then, I’m always elusive or tell him we won’t be around. Doesn’t he get my message? Is it only hospitality, or is he a dirty old man?
Lately, we had an invasion of ants in the kitchen, he came by to check. He touched my arm and said he would take care of it, spray a little here and there… I cringed in horror and disengaged myself from his grip.
He has invited himself twice, cooking fish and bringing this very strong alcohol made with either rose petals, or orange rinds, mint leaves or carob seeds, or plumbs (slivoviz). The children made faces in his back, did silly comments when he was not listening, I had to make efforts not to laugh while listening to him. He has told us the same story three times already, so I think he is a little senile, but he always manages to touch me, my arm, my shoulder, my back. I mentioned my husband, he quivered. “Are you married? Yes, I am!” Ten minutes later, he was gone. The children asked with a grin “what would you have done if he tried to kiss you with his bad breath?” Well, I would never have let it go so far, and I prefer to believe it was just pure hospitality *ahem!*. After that, I went for a strong cocktail!
On a more positive note, the view from our balcony.
