Friendship Out the Door

Gramma

Jodi decided she would move to Florida to live with her sister Judi.  This had been her long term plan after retirement.  Judi has a good government job and Jodi could continue to sponge off her.  Judi was always giving her money.  I suspect she was subsidizing the rent.  She had just paid for Jodi and her son to accompany her on a trip to Hawaii.

A pod showed up in front of the rental.  A bench she had taken of mine was in the way.  I found it upside down in the nearby flower bed.  It was the beginning of another tantrum.  Over the years, she had claimed that I was her best friend.  I was her only friend and I didn't like her much, but took pity. 

Judi helped her pack up.  She gave me a big hug and said how much she would miss visiting me. More sisters showed up to help.  I poked my head in every now and then to see how things were going. 

"Why is the door to the bedroom missing?" 

"It's mine.  I'm taking it with me."

"No. You need to reinstall it." 

"No.  I paid for it and I paid your son to install it." 

"That was not the agreement, or I would never have let you install it.  You said that you did not mind paying for it because the rent was so low.  Put it back." 

The door was nice.  It was a French door she had found at a garage sale.  I knew she would not listen to me, as this had been her habit over the years.  When Dave got home, he blew a nut and went out to set her straight.  This would not be good. 

"We have always bent over backwards to accommodate you.  I've had rental property and this is not how things are done.  Put it back," he ordered in no uncertain terms.  Her sisters all sat there silent. 

"Jodi, I have given you around $25,000 in rent subsidies over the years you have been here and this is how you repay my generosity?  You need to put all the doors back in--the bedroom, bathroom, laundry room and pantry," I said.  "And put the shelves back in the pantry."  She had put a bookshelf full of nick-nacks in the pantry.. 

Like so many other things she had done without permission, she had removed the doors and put them in the pole shed for storage.  Why anyone would not want a bathroom door is beyond me.  She had hung a curtain in it's place.  Maybe she was afraid of the boogeyman hiding behind the doors. 

The next day the entire extended family showed up to fill the pod.  They all gave me the cold shoulder--over a door.  The yard was a parking lot.  I worked outside all day raking garden beds. 

Dave and I returned home after an evening out.  All was quiet and dark with no cars around.  The door was gone and the one in it's place did not shut properly.  There was still no bathroom door.  A new white bi-fold door was leaning against the wall.  Who puts a bi-fold door in a bathroom?  Jodi.