Trapped by the DOORBELL

[saanen]

Okay, here I am this afternoon sitting in front of my computer working hard at writing my weekly movie review. The dog is on the porch asleep, Mom wandered off to the store to give me lots of peace and quiet, and I shut the door to my bedroom--at least as far as it shuts, with the computer cable snaking under it

Comments

[saanen]

Well, it wasn't Angela at all. It was the next-door neighbor trying to deliver a belated Christmas gift--a $25 gift certificate to Olive Garden! I told him I had been working on the computer and ignoring the doorbell. Poor guy.

[tharain]

Whoops.

So it WAS a present. Excellent.

[saanen]

Yes, and a most excellent present! We actually went out to use the gift certificate tonight. We got to the restaurant early, fortunately, because we only had to wait a few minutes for a table but by the time we left the place was packed. I highly recommend the Mixed Grill, mmmmmm.

[tharain]

I'm on tenterhooks here! WHO WAS IT?

[halfmoon_mollie]

I'm glad this story has a happy ending. You remind me, I need to call MY cousin.

25 dollar gift cert for the Olive Garden? Very nice. What good neighbors you have.

You liked The Producers? Could you send me to the place your review will be? I'd like to read it.

(oh, ps - the little nephew's girlfriend pronounced the Christmas cookies made from your recipe 'the best EVER'.)

[saanen]

The cookie recipe wins another accolade! I think I made about a billion of those cookies this year. I'm ready to hang up the rolling pin for a few months.

My movie reviews appear in our little local paper, the Observer. I'd give you the URL for its website, but I just checked and they haven't updated the movie reviews since the former reviewer wrote up "Valiant"--that came out in what, September? If they update with my stuff I'll post the URL, though, because I'm terribly vain. :)

[barbarakelley]

I'm so glad it wasn't the crazy cousin Angela. She scared me, just hearing about her.

[saanen]

Yeah, she really is nuts. When the neighbor showed up the third (and final) time, Mom was home and had said, "Look, if Angela comes over, just explain that you don't want to see her. You don't need to have a big confrontation, but you don't need to hide from her either." So I went to answer the door with dread in my heart--and there was the wonderful sweet neighbor with a plate of cookies and that gift certificate! He is so nice, although his wife is very quiet and never talks to us. Mom and I went to Olive Garden tonight and had a fantastic dinner and a really good conversation about how things have gone this year and what we need to do to get our lives on track.

Honestly, I could hug that neighbor. What a swell guy!

[barbarakelley]

I can imagine the relief of it being the good neighbor with cookies.

I've never been able to hide from someone like that except once-- I always get too curious and have to peek, which of course gives me away.

There's only been one time that I successfully resisted the urge to see who it was. It was late at night and I wasn't expecting anyone, so I sensibly didn't answer the door when someone came knocking(living alone, one should be careful) They pounded and pounded but I held firm... there was a pause, then the pounding started again. That time I noticed the blue lights reflecting on the ceiling-- it was the police!

The first time it had been a neighbor wanting to tell me my truck had been broken into...

They must ahve thought me terribly rude... I didn't have a phone anyway, so I'm glad they called the police.

[saanen]

Hmm, now I've had a night to think it over, I'm starting to feel bad for saying such nasty things about my own cousin. She's not all that bad--I mean, she is a pathological liar and a passive-aggressive manipulator, but she can also be a lot of fun. Poor Angela. Now that there's no chance of running into her, I will think nice things about her.

[seaslug_of_doom]

I had been prepared to suggest that Angela was now working for FedEx, thus bring about the Apocalypse, but pleasant realities revealed are so much less dramatic. On the plus side, Olive Garden salads are A+