They had their music playing loudly enough to wake me from a light doze. While irritating, this is the first time this has happened since I moved in, and compared to every neighbor I've ever had since I started college, this is a new record. So I figure that I'd be polite and knock on the door, rather then try the floor-stomping routine.
I put on a shirt and pants, and go downstairs. Knock knock.
No response. I can hear talking inside.
Hmph. This isn't how I'd planned this to go. Once again, knock knock.
The stereo shuts off completely. I hear something about religion, door, and this time of night. I make a poor judgement at this point, but one that made a certain degree of sense at the time; when I'd gotten home from teaching, I could see through the front window that there were two girls at my door. I figured one of them was my roommate's new convenient distraction, and frowned a bit, since I knew he was out of the apartment eating dinner somewhere else. By the time I'd gotten my bass out of the car, and checked the mailbox, they were on their way down the stairs, and it turned out it was two high schoolers shoving religious tracts into people's doors.
No one appears to be coming to the door, but the stereo is off. I figure they've gotten the hint, and start walking back up the stair. As I reach the landing, the door opens, and there's my neighbor. She looks irritable.
"Oh," I say. "I'm sorry to be a bother, but I have to work in the morning, so I was just hoping you wouldn't mind turning your stereo down."
She nods, and apologizes. I smile and say, "Not to worry, I'm not some late-night Jehovah's Witness or something."
From the look on her face after that comes out of her mouth, I know that was the wrong thing to say. "I am a Jehovah's Witness, actually."
I'm not sure how to react. I'm half-asleep, which makes me muddy as is. Something tells me I should apologize, but I'm not feeling terribly apologetic, and I don't like lying to people
"Right," she says.
"I, um."
We look at each other awkwardly for a moment. She goes back into her apartment. I walk up the stairs.
Now I can't get back to sleep.
Goddamnit.
4 comments:
Warning: Jaime (at work) is a Jehovah's Witness. That's why I was trying to shush you during all the "Let's rent a Bible video!" nonsense last night. ;)
Huh, and I thought it was because I kept saying titties.
Oh well. Terrible Spanish Horror film managed to break the ice well enough.
I've always been of the opinion that if you peddle your religion like cheap encyclopedias, then I have every reason to be grumpy at you for doing so. Especially if they initiated the whole durn situation by blaring music at all hours. :-)
Then again, I'm also an old man.
I think "OK" was pretty much the only way to respond.
Religion is no excuse for anything, including door-to-door sales people.
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