These are the people in your neighborhood

by ZJ — 13 March 2007

We live in a three-story complex of condos, in the northwest corner on the third floor. Nick lived on the first floor in the southwest corner with his fat girlfriend, who never went outside except to go to the grocery store. As of tonight, he doesn't live there anymore, and I doubt anyone will for a while.

For the past several months, Nick would occasionally come upstairs and ask to use our telephone, claiming his wasn't working. He'd usually order pizza. Nobody's phone service should be out for such a duration. Since the beginning of February, we noticed an odor had begun to permeate the north hallway. Having kept mice before (don't do this), we recognized its cause as it grew steadily stronger. On many nights, we would pull into our designated parking space, which faced his window, and see a mouse scurrying around inside. He never opened his blinds. When he talked to us, he would ask if we ever had any problems with mice, though he denied ever having any in his condo. While it was obvious what was going on, I preferred the theory that they were keeping an immobile, super-obese relative in there, as this made the situation slightly more tolerable.

Over the past few days, the smell in the north hallway had grown nearly unbearable. We put off going down to the front lobby to check our mailbox for as long as possible. Something must have happened, because tonight, my mom came home to find several police cars parked in front of the building, and a few officers talking to Nick. He had tears in his eyes, and they were all very quiet. Other officers were wearing masks, and were walking in and out of his condo.

My mom came and got me, and we waited on the landing at the top of the stairs, listening and trying to figure out what was going on. We guessed something had happened to his fat girlfriend, but this wasn't the case. His girlfriend is in the hospital with a respiratory infection, because their condo is full of mice, feces, garbage and probably mold. The infestation was so severe, the police decided to condemn the place. They gave Nick five minutes to gather his things, and told him to call someone to stay with. When he did, he couldn't bring himself to tell them why he had to leave.

One of the officers came upstairs and asked us to contact the building's manager about the incident. He described the odor inside the condo as a hundred times worse than that in the hallway, and said Nick needed help. We agreed. Before the police left, they sealed off the door and sprayed a deodorizer which reduced the stench to that of several wet dogs.

How does someone allow their home to devolve into such a state? This isn't even the first time it happened. A couple years ago on Christmas Eve, the old man who lived across from us had a heart attack at the top of the stairs and fell, snapping his neck and leaving a puddle of blood and gore on the doormat. When the police checked out his condo, we came with them. It was filled with garbage, and a cat. His kitchen was absolutely disgusting, and looked like nobody had touched its surfaces in decades. Its cobwebs had cobwebs. The worst part was that you couldn't tell there was anything wrong from the outside. Nobody could. We had accepted food from him.

I fucking hope somebody cleans that place out before the weather warms up.

Update update: Today, Nick came back with assistance to clean up the condo. A padlock had been installed to keep him out. They ripped up the carpet padding and piled it into his pickup truck. It must be really important carpet padding.

Condemnation notice