Mrs. Strong, Across the Street

[Gita]

 

After a lengthy illness, her husband left her well-to-do and ready for some merry-widow fun. At 76, Mrs. Strong is straight of spine, firm of resolve and tightly coiffed in a halo of spun sugar.

Summers, she’s at her cottage on Lake Martin, but when she is at home, she sits by her bay window with a notepad. She watches the comings and the goings -- especially those of black men who have no lawful reason to be on this street -- and she has 911 on speed dial.
She jots the tag numbers of suspicious-looking older trucks as well as the running shoe brands of strolling Negroes, and she has helpfully warned that our flat-screen TV is visible through our window at night, meaning either that we're inviting a burglar or that she knows our permissive viewing tastes.

At night, I walk the dog – both of us barefoot – across her perfect zoysia lawn, while she suspects -- but cannot prove -- I am the one who heisted her McCain/Palin yard signs back in 2008.

[Brittany]

I lived next door to her in South Carolina :)

[Mike Handley]

She sounds like one of those grocery store computers that knows I quit buying pork hot dogs three years ago and that I have a new affinity for unleaded cheeses. I wonder if that's why I'm now getting spammed for "over-50 dating sites."

[Angela]

I agree with Bolton about the particular details you used in this piece.  You did a good job with those signs, as you so cleverly did not admit.

[Joe Gensle]

You may have snagged the signs, but the Republicans snagged her thousand-bucks' donation (and you know the results, there!). Amusing, revealing, setting-her-mindset (n-word in literary perfect mindset defining her bygone generation). This. Rocks.

[Gita]

It's her real name and while I didn't have space to tell it here, she has actually helped police catch a couple of burglars over the years because the woman misses nothing. It's like, who needs to pay a home alarm company with the widow Strong directly across the street? The interior of her house is all white, by the way. White carpets, cream-colored sofas, chairs. I took off my shoes the one time when I was invited inside.

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

This is great.  Every neighborhood has a person like this.  I'd like to see a six on the neighborhood from Mrs Strong's (perfect name) point of view. 

[Teresa]

I pictured you smiling as I read that last line.  I adore these pieces about the real life characters around you. 

[bolton carley]

everything about this is awesome from her name to her halo of spun sugar to her view of your tv.  and i can only imagine how much there is out there that "isn't proven" about you!