On the Street

The report showed up on the front page. One sister tried to strangle the other in a fit of rage on the city sidewalk at the neighborhood convenience store. There's a chance the aggressor will go to the women's prison. The sisters and another woman have been my neighbors for about 6 years. 

When they first arrived they were feral, no eye contact, virtually mute. They were homeless before coming here. The sister who had been attacked was disabled. The sisters are also twins. Over the course of a few years they all became more comfortable and adopted a few dogs and found jobs and bought a car. They seemed happy and would chat over the fence. They had become part of the community.

The report continued. The care-giving sister had gone on a tirade and choked the other in public for being caught stealing from the local convenience store. I assume the twin by now has been placed in a group home or institution. The whole story is tragic and it unfolded right here in our backyard. Perhaps they will get the help they need. I hope so.

I grew up in the tony suburbs where it was all concealed behind manicured lawns and Gothic doors. When things happened we heard about it later, sometimes decades later but rarely in real time. The suicides, the key parties, the beatings, the child-molesting parents, neighbors and teachers. A blacked-out drunk who thought he was murdering his parents killed a new couple that had moved into his childhood home. Powerful emotions have no class boundaries.