Moving Again

Looks like we’re going to try to move again when our lease is up in
April. The good news is, we’re strongly looking at the Greenbelt area
because my mom’s job is in Silver Spring and of course mine is mostly
in that area.

Here’s why we’re moving:
Yesterday, as I was pulling out of my driveway and attempting to dodge
the many cars parked on the narrow street, I heard shouting. I
reparked, and got out. A man across the street was yelling out of his
window: “You just hit my car motherfucker! Stay right fucking there,
I’m coming out!” So I’m panicking, of course, because I don’t know if
someone’s coming out to beat me up and if I really did hit the guy’s
car.

I called in to my house and told my family to come outside
immediately. While they’re doing that, the guy comes out- a big black
dude saying that “You just hit the wrong car.”

He inspects his car, and mumbles to himself about the rain. He doesn’t
see any damage. I say, “I’ll call the police and have them assess the
situation.” He says, “I am a cop.” By now another woman has come out
of his house- this is the same woman that yells at Steve whenever he
walks by with Boomer because she’s convinced Boomer tears up her lawn.
Also the same woman that reported us to the homeowner’s association
when our trash wasn’t picked up one week.

By now, there are people outside. I head back inside with my family
and call the police. While we are waiting, my mom goes outside with
her cell phone camera to take pictures. Of the window, the man yells
at her, “Don’t touch my goddamn car!” My mom, far more fearless than I
am, yells back, “I’m not touching your car!”

An officer shows up over an hour later. I explain that I haven’t
swapped insurance info because the man was verbally abusive. The
officer takes me outside, and talks to the man across the street. He
examines both cars. He sees a black mark on the rear bumper of my car.
He looks at the man’s car.
“Where’s the damage, sir?” The officer asks.
“The rain washed it away,” He responds.

The officer watches as we swap insurance information, and says that
the man should check out his car when the rain stops, and call it into
his insurance company if there’s any damage, and if there’s not, to
come across the street and tell me that there was no damage. Of
course, when the officer is there, he’s all sweetness and light, and
says that I should “just be more careful.” (He also doesn’t identify
himself as an officer to the real officer.) The officer also says that
it looks like my bumper tapped his tire, which would be so light I
wouldn’t notice it. He declines to write a report. Before the officer
leaves, she asks him if he can get any of the cars moved, because
there’s no way she’d be able to get out quickly in an emergency with
all those cars parked there. The officer says “No, because this isn’t
a county road.”

Now I have the fun task of backing in to my driveway around other cars
to prevent coming anywhere near other cars when pulling out. Across
the street is a pair of psychos, and to our right is a crazy lady who
complains when other people’s cars are parked near her property. The
whole neighborhood, which seems to have a lot of pets in it, is still
very unfriendly to cats being out and dogs being walked.

So, despite still not having fully moved in, we’re looking to move
again. Of course, as always, we’ll need help moving (especially
because we won’t be able to afford to hire movers like last time) and
if you notice any houses for rent open up in the Greenbelt area
suitable for 3 people please let me know.