Neighbors helping neighbors . . . yeah . . . now, see, about that . . .

There are four apartments in my apartment building, two upstairs and two downstairs. I live upstairs. At the beginning of the summer, the tenants across from my (both upstairs and down) moved out. This weekend, the lady that lived below me left.

See, remember her boyfriend? The one I helped out by driving him to a "job interview" last Thursday? Well, he had stolen some of her jewelry -- some expensive stuff with sentimental value. Sometime that day he pawned or traded it for drugs. That was the last straw -- apparently, he'd been stealing from her and abusing her for some time, and she finally called it quits. She talked to the apartment manager and decided to move out. She took his stuff (just some clothes) with her, claiming she'd burn it.

Where is he now? Not around here. He doesn't have a car, and he's locked out of the apartment. I know he has family in town; he's probably with them.

Am I weirded out? You betcha. I mean, the walls are pretty thin here, but I never heard screaming or anything from down below. The neighborhood is a nicer neighborhood than most of the other apartments around town -- but that's no guarantee of safety.

And I can guess who broke into my neighbor's apartment now.