now he has a saw

His name is, well never mind that. He's about 60+, originally from Inkster, MI (of course), lives alone, and takes high doses of Prednisone to treat his severe asthma. This drug has a long list of side effects, each one being either severe or less severe. Chronic sleeping trouble and nervousness are the two that come to mind immediately though.

He's nocturnal. He lays low in the daytime, which means this is when he hoses the sidewalk off for 1-2 hours and does 50 loads of laundry. Because of his asthma, he's obsessed with keeping his environment--both inside and out--totally free of dust and/or dirt particles. And this is why him living on a street where the above-ground train spews track dust into his living room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week makes no sense to me. But because he's lived in his rent control flat since the early eighties and probably pays only $1k a month, it makes total sense.

So it's during the evening hours when he "wakes up" and we hear him drag the Shopvac out and start vacuuming his entire place. And I can't be certain, but it sounds like he even does the walls and the ceiling. Every once in a while, he'll change it up a bit and start hammering something or throwing things around. And one of his most recent activities includes moving things: large furniture? heavy boxes?dead bodies? His hours for this task are usually anywhere from 10pm to 2-4am. The room directly below our bedroom seems to be the destination for these items. Thought I was going to be able to throw the earplugs out after New York--guess not...

So tonight he is sawing. Lord only knows what he could be assembling or disassembling, but he's not stopping. And in between some of this back-breaking carpentry, are his usual grunts, moans, and angry cursing. Sometimes I picture him doing things like Michael Keaton's character from Pacific Heights.

Nice, big rent-control flat in a lovely neighborhood? He's not going anywhere. But we are (and maybe soon). Hopefully the new neighbors are a little more chill and don't need to vacuum (or saw things) all night long.