The Choking Incident

Some of you may have heard this story from me already so I decided not to post it. However, recently there was an exciting update that has forced me to share.

Last month I was watching television one night around ten or eleven. I was about to go to sleep so I was just lounging on my couch without pants on. All of the sudden, I hear some loud noises in the apartment above me and it sounds like someone is running up and down the stairs. These noises aren’t really unusual as there are often drunk college boys running around late at night. A faint knock at my door startles me and I walk over to my peep hole. No one is at my door but I hear someone panting. At this point I’m a little scared and search frantically for my pants. When I open the door, my neighbor is standing outside with his hands around his neck and hardly breathing. I stand staring at him dumbfounded, unsure of what to do. Eventually I realize this situation calls for the hymlic maneuver. How do you give the hymlic maneuver?! Neighbor can see that I’m not any help and takes matters into his own hands. He presses his stomach against a post in the hallway until he throws up and clears his airway. Embarrassed by the vomiting, he says, “uh, thanks for coming out,” and runs back up the stairs. I feel horrible for almost letting someone die before my eyes and I know that he feels humiliated. I decide that the right thing to do is leave him a note. I will surely see him in the future and I don’t want to be known as the jerk who is too flustered to save a life. I take the note down to the mailboxes that night so he’ll get it as he leaves for work. There are only eight mailboxes and I know most people in the building. Knowing that Neighbor is Hispanic I go with the only Hispanic sounding last name, sure that it his. I see him smoking outside sometimes and he hardly says a word to me. End of story.

Or is it? Fast forward a month and a letter is mistakenly placed in my mailbox. It has Neighbor’s first name and then an Irish sounded last name. Irish?! Who is Hispanic last name? I still don’t know. All I know is that Hispanic last name neighbor received a handwritten letter in his mailbox one morning in February that read:

I’m sorry about the choking incident last night.
I did that once when I was alone too.
I hope you’re feeling better….

Haley Apt. 2

Pat Soup

Today I briefly met another fellow Fredericksburg local at my favorite takeout restaurant, Bangkok Thai. Her name is Pat and she comes every single day to get her favorite soup. The employees lit up when they saw the familiar face walk in and grab her small cup of soup that was sitting on the bar waiting. She said she lost 50 pounds by eating this delicious concoction of chicken broth, mushrooms and vegetables on a daily basis. When I asked her what the soup was called she said she didn’t know. All she has to do is call on the way home and order “Pat Soup.” Call me crazy but I found this extremely interesting. I think Pat Soup would make a great character in a book.