Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Folks in the hood (pt. I)

There are several families here on Undercover Ln. that have varying levels of relations with us. To date, the only people I have introduced formally on The Agent B Files are Obi-Wan, The Sanfords (The Tiger, The Bulldog, etc), and the Valdezes (the folks with cool parties). In this two part series, I'll introduce a partial list of characters that have yet to be mentioned:

Lloyd & Fay Mackey - They live across the street from us. They've been in the neighborhood for over 30 years, raised their two kids (now grown), and have the most nicely kept house on the block. Both do various odd jobs for a living but Lloyd is also a carpenter. He has the coolest shop in his backyard complete with every type of table saw & power tool imaginable. He mostly builds & installs cabinets. He has helped me with a number of minor fix-it jobs around my house and Obi-Wan's. He's been an overall lifesaver many times. Like my parents and in-laws, they are members of a large coc club. My parents and, especially, my in-laws get along with them great which makes sense now that I think of it. I was in ACU marching band with the Mackey's son. I'm sure he's now told them story's of my wacky, long haired days.

Pastor Rod - He is a minister at a COGIC club here in the mother city. I have yet to meet his wife and elderly mother, who all live together. Pastor Rod is very friendly and talkative (he's a preacher, for crying out loud), always yelling across the street to me about the weather or something. Both his elderly mother and his wife have health problems, thus he spends much time as the care giver for both women. His wife gets out of the house often and goes to dialysis 2-3 times a week. She always has a pissed-off look on her face. I probably would too if I were on dialysis.

Melissa & Carrie - These are our next door neighbors that we have very little relationship with but therefore, know the least about. Melissa is 27 year old single mom of 8 year old Carrie. When we moved in almost three years ago, Melissa was married to JT (or, I guess they were married). I assume they've been together as long as Carrie's been alive since JT was her dad. One evening I heard yelling in their driveway. They were arguing about money or something. A short time later I noticed JT was moving out. Melissa works on the 7th floor of a big bank building downtown in the student loan office. Until a year ago, she also worked in her parent's tejano night club about 6 nights a week. JT use to work there too when they were together. I can imagine that working in a night club would strain any relationship. We rarely see Melissa as she is super busy: work, nightlife, and her daughter's little league games. Melissa's sister and her little boy, as well as their parents live there part time (I guess) as they come in and out often. I never know who really lives there anymore.

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