Chapter 2

I was on call 24/7 for security as well as doing patrols through and outside each of the 2 buildings.

We tried to build a community with the people in the 2 buildings, but there was no response after a few attempts. I had the daughter of one of the residents practically come on to at one of the dinners we hosted - right in front of my wife and her own mother, as well as most of the other residents. She was the best looking of all the residents, but still much younger than me and very very drunk.

It was during that fall that she decided that we were not going to have sex again. It took me a long time to realize what had happened because I thought I could romance her enough to get her interested but she’d hit menopause and lost all interest in sex - period! She neglected to inform me of her decision and reason but I dragged it out of her the following year when even my patience was exhausted.

I made it to a year the following Christmas season before life in the apartment got to be too much. The resident that lived over us had visitors over the holidays and there was non-stop noise for 2 weeks every day and night. I couldn’t sleep and finally went to the Social Servies office in the New Year and explained the problem. They had no budget to put any kind of soundproofing in my ceiling so I gave notice and gave them 6 weeks to find someone to replace me. Later I found out that they never did replace me and put another resident in the apartment.

We moved into the only high-rise apartment building on the top floor so there was no chance of anyone making noise above us and keeping me awake - heh! Our social life blossomed with darts, cards, potluck lunches and other stuff- and no sex! I was really angry with her when I found out that she had made a unilateral decision of no more sex. We’d found a local church that both of us liked enough to become members. The pastor was one of the best I’d ever met, but his wife was a disruptive influence in the ministry ... so much so that we agreed to leave the church. Many other locals apparently had the same issues with her that we had and had left the church as well in prior years. We found another church and it turned out the our old pastor and the new one were very good friends but the new pastor had nothing to say about the others wife and that in itself is a very telling statement. My wife’s youngest son was working in a large city down south and had purchased a nice 2 bedroom bungalow with a basement so that his kids could stay over when they came to see him. His ex became and ex when she decided that she’d rather be with his best friend who also became an ex ... what a friend he turned out to be. The only surprise to me was who she took up with as the signs that she was planning on going ‘hunting’ were clear as day to me even though we were on the outside of the whole thing. As the saying goes, she got the house and he got the shaft - no surprise there.