Other People

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.” - Buddha (563-483 B.C.)

 Prologue – Late August, 1996

She pressed firmly on her thigh, trying to stop the spillage of blood that she deliberately started with her own hand just moments ago. Then she removed yet another ruined T-shirt and inspected her new gash. It was deeper than usual. But this time, it wasn't her fault. This time it was the other peoples' fault, the other people who had just arrived in the moving van in front of her building. She had just got ridden of an old couple and now a new young couple had already arrived to replace them. She was certain they would serve as a daily reminder that she was not one of them.

 CHAPTER  ONE

 Jim was relieved and considered it a sign of good luck that there were no longer heavy downpours of rain to complicate the transfer of Nina's precious belongings into their new home.

Nina glanced at Jim and sighed. “I don't think I could've sat in this truck for another minute.”

She searched through her purse, pulling out a set of keys and handing them to Jim. “God, I haven't been here since I was about twenty. It's the first apartment on the bottom floor, right side. I remember it well.”

Built mostly of brick, the old Victorian-style building named The Madison House contained six apartment units distributed between two floors. The front lawn was adorned with two tall oak trees and had three gardenia bushes along each side of the walkway. To the left side of The Madison House, was a large driveway that could fit six or seven compact cars. A glimpse into the backyard gave view to a large, weeping beech tree and a battered wooden deck. The front porch was rather small, with an old rocking chair resting closely along the edge.

As he stepped onto the walkway, Jim noticed faded etchings and scribbling on the concrete from colored chalks. The grounds were moist and the birds were out in abundance hunting for fresh worms. Aside from these small-feathered creatures, this little town of Maddington, Connecticut, seemed strangely quiet for an early Saturday afternoon.

 “Jim! Can you get the door? I'm on the cell phone,” Nina yelled from the kitchen.

Jim walked towards the living room door, feeling confused because he had not heard any knocking. He opened it anyway.

“Well, hello there. You must be James.”

Jim discovered a tall black man in his mid to late fifties with a short graying beard and a wide grin standing in his doorway. “Yes. I'm James Sutterbourne. Can I help you with something?”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Vance Williams,” the man replied, exchanging a handshake with Jim. “Mr. Whitfield told me that you and his daughter would be arriving this weekend.”

“Oh, yes. You're the maintenance man of the building. Edward told me about you. And, by the way, you can call me Jim.”

“Maintenance man? Son, I am the miracle worker in this building. Take this apartment you're in now for instance. I'm mighty damn proud how I cleaned up this place,” Vance said as he entered inside from the hallway. “You're lucky you have a wall to put a picture up on!”

“Were the people in here before us reckless or something?” asked Jim.

“Picture four kids in a two-bedroom apartment,” answered Vance.

“Uh-huh.”

“All under the age of five. Need I say more? Anyway, I stopped by to see if you needed any help unloading your van outside.”

Jim looked over at Nina, who was still chatting intensely on her cell phone.

“Sure, that would be great,” he smiled. “I could certainly use another pair of hands around here.”

 Jim was glad he had found someone to help him unload the van. His muscles were still sore from packing up the vehicle the night before. Luckily, he and Nina would be receiving much of the heavy furniture within the next couple of days, as it was being delivered by the companies from which they were purchased. The quicker he could empty out the moving van, the sooner they could get it back to Stamford – about an hour south of Maddington – and retrieve their cars.

Vance moved swiftly, carrying box after box, while telling Jim about the other residents at The Madison House. On the top floor, resided an old Asian couple, a young woman, and an Italian couple with two small children. The other occupant on the bottom floor was a hermit-like man in his early forties; or, as Vance had called him, “a drunk motorcycle hippie.”

In less than an hour's time, Jim and Vance had all the boxes removed from the van and into the apartment. As he entered with the final box, Jim heard Nina shriek.

“My God, Jim! What did you do?” she cried out while placing her phone on the counter.

Jim looked at Vance, then again at Nina. “What's the matter?”

“I can't believe you did this!” she replied, her eyes widening as she looked over the boxes. “I specifically asked you to bring in the boxes and place them in numerical order, they way I had labeled them. Now, I'm all confused where certain boxes are, which will make it more difficult for me to find what I want!”

Jim let out an enormous sigh.

Vance laughed quietly to himself. “Well, it looks like my work here is done for the day and it looks like you are in the doghouse, son.”

“Wait,” Jim responded. “Before you go, I want to thank you for helping me.”

He put his hand into his pocket and held out a twenty-dollar bill.

Vance shook his head. “No. Put that away. If you want to thank me, do it by being good neighbors. It was nice meetin' you and I hope you'll both join me for breakfast tomorrow mornin'. I'll be seein' you both around.”

He shook hands again with Jim, nodded towards Nina, and disappeared out the door.

“Well, he certainly seems like a nice guy,” Jim said, turning towards Nina. “And, by the way, he invited us to go out to breakfast with him tomorrow morning if you'd like to go.”

Nina, still perturbed, looked up from her unorganized boxes. “Are you serious? I am not concerned about what I'm going to do for breakfast tomorrow morning. Right now I’m worried about where we're putting our new furniture, getting the van returned, and then getting back here to unpack this mess!”