Mysterious Olympian

When I was seven Mark Spitz won the Olympic gold medal for being the fastest swimmer in the world. I wondered at the time if there might be faster swimmers nobody knew about. Maybe Mrs Ross the old lady next door was a faster swimmer, undiscovered. It's true that she was never seen except on Halloween when she came to the door with red apples on a silver tray. We were too scared to take them fearing razor blades hidden inside. One year, as we walked away, Joey DeMarco from the neighborhood shouted she's a witch! We believed it. One day when Mrs Ross' LIFE magazine was accidentally delivered to our house, my mother asked me to take it over to her. I knew my mother was too scared to do it. I was too, and the magazine rotted in our garage. Mrs. Ross' house was surrounded by tall thick evergreen bushes and a six-foot chain link fence. We never saw lights on in her house at night except one yellow light that shone through a diamond-paned window. Our neighbor the doctor said that in the thirty years his family lived opposite her, she never threw out any trash. I remember she always phoned the police and complained of noise when she heard us playing with our friends in the doctor's swimming pool. I guess the sound of kids having fun was just too much for her to bear. Years later after she died they found her cellar full of empty wine bottles. Poor Mrs Ross. She was an Olympian swimming in wine.