Don't Trash Me!

I woke up to a call from my neighbor telling me she heard kids in the stairwell trying to break into the vacant apartment upstairs from her. Call the cops! I said. I immediately contacted the city officials who I have complained to about this wide-open front stairwell door for years. Vagrants have been using it to crash, party, buy drugs, etc. The landlord is the real problem.

I often wonder if the landlord is deliberately trashing the building for the insurance. I love my city, I love my hard-working city government, and I'm not afraid to ask them for help, even if I have to bug them repeatedly! Then, exhausted by all the hoopla, I and my husband drove to our favorite dog-walking spot a mile and a half down the road in the state of Massachusetts. There's an old railroad grade for hiking, and a nice spot for our dog to get to the river.

After our walk and dog swim, as we were climbing into the car, a motorcycle cop came right up towards me and stopped. I was not frightened. I have been taking my dogs to this path for over 28 years. The town put up no-parking signs at the dead end recently, but we still come here.

Hi, I was just picking up trash and noticed a man's undies over there and my husband and I were laughing wondering about how the man got home. This is what I do when I come here, I pick up trash! Kids always respond and want to join in. Actions are worth a thousand words.

It's the adults that dump the trash, the cop said. Then Marsha's hubby pulled in to his driveway, and I asked him if he had a big trash bag because there's a pile of plastic Dunkin iced coffee cups, wine bottles, cigarette packages, and beer bottles down on the island in a firepit. No problem, Marsha's husband said, and he went and got me two. He had made that pile yesterday! Just hadn't got around to bagging it.

Would you like some gloves? the cop asked. Sure, I said, thanks. I put on the black latex gloves. They were olive green on the inside. Picking up trash is my way of saying thank you to the town for this beautiful spot, I said. My walks here are my daily 20-minute vacation. I live in the heart of the city at one of the most notorious intersections. I like to get involved. Well thanks, and have a nice day!

When I got home I emailed him to thank him again and to let him know there was a discarded couch and mattress in the road behind the cemetery.