Folks in the hood (pt. II)

(cont'd)

Mr. Buckley (my racist neighbor) - He's 82 years old and his wife's quite a bit younger than him (64?). He served on a B-24 in WWII out of England and claims witness to seeing the rumored German jet fighters (the first jets ever made, predecessor to US F-16's). He sits in a lawn chair out on his driveway with his little wiener dog when the weather is nice. He can be very negative. Everything is "gawdam this and that", etc. He really has nothing positive to say about black people. When Pastor Rod drives by and waves, Mr. Buckley refers to him as "n****r preacher". He once told me how some black kids beat him up and humiliated him way back in high school. He's hated the whole race ever since. Somehow, I managed to politely inform him that Agent Wife is half black. People often let an incident in their past effect the whole course of their life. I know I almost did.

Sebastian and Jenny - These kids are brother and sister, aged 9 & 7. They live way down at the other end of the street with their mom, Carole, who works at one of the Dollar stores near our block, and Carole's boyfriend Pedro, who works as a trucker. I've only met Pedro once - at Agent Offspring's B-Day party. S & J are really sweet kids who desire a lot of attention, so Agent Wife generously gives it to them. Sebastian and Jenny love to come over and play board games, play with Agent Offspring, and ask questions about our marriage and family life. I think that deep down, every kid has a desire for both a mom and a dad and some semblance of a "normal" family...whatever that means.

Amy & Joe - They are the newest members of the block. They arrived in the fair mother city two months ago thanks to hurricane Rita. They lived and worked in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area until they fled the storm and lost everything. They have a 9 year old daughter and two smaller kids. Amy's still looking for work while Joe found a teaching job at the elementary school 4 blocks away (nice - and getting a job in the shrinking AISD can't be easy, especially mid-year). Agent Wife met them a while back and told me about this couple...who actually want to have a neighborhood BBQ (that's right up our alley). SO last week I met them and I recognized Amy from somewhere in my past. She and I were in ACU marching band together her freshman year (my 1st senior year, I was a 5 year student). She was in my 'section'. God, I hope I wasn't a jack-ass to her back then. I barely remember her.