Then There Was One

 When I moved here I was the youngest on this floor of ten apartments.

All the other residents were older Italian widows who loved to cook.

Always bringing the new girl food (ya baby! )

They used to all care for the handicapped woman in the apartment 

before I moved in.

The entire floor cared for eachother.

Yesterday one more passed away. 

Its kind of strange how I try to remember the past ones and 

a single thing about them.

One named Ida  she was short and i recalled her name like Idaho ( potato)

The two at the end were inseparable - Louise and Nancy

Another had a chest freezer that everyone kept their turkeys in, she sold

me a used jar of Avon hand cream - i never said anything.

My nextdoor neighbor had a husband who drank a 30 pack 

everyother day and was always drunk and they would fight. He passed away.

Then newer ones came and passed as well- I saved the voice recording of

a widower who would call me over for pie after his wife died.

The woman who just passed had her ex in another building.

He ended up in the same home as my dad, I liked the guy.

I did not like the woman, she was not nice. 

Oh she pretended to be

but I soon realized she was a user and didnt care if her neighbor was 

elder and weaker than her she would call them to do things for her -

 hounding them cruelly to go get her cigarettes. 

She died of cancer, three of them at the end of the hall did. 

So, there is just my nextdoor neighbor left of the old gang. 

It sure has been 15 months of loss of a lot of friends and acquaintances.