I hate March.

March sucks. Or, M4RCH IS TEH SUX, as might be said in internet parlance.

Aside from my financial difficulties, tons of people I know are going into the hospital, including my great-aunt who lives in Florida. She has a nasty blood infection and is on life support. My uncle is on his way there now, and as soon as he gets there and says his goodbyes, they are going to take her off the life support.

Now it also seems that I apparently live in a high crime area. There was the guy on the sexual offender registry who was arrested last month, of course. Someone else got arrested last week. It wasn’t anyone I know, but I saw the police car’s lights flashing through my kitchen window blinds and peeked out just in time to see the police loading a handcuffed man into the backseat.

So now, last night, after I talked to my cousin about her grandma and all the other people who have fallen ill, I decided I should go grocery shopping. When I came back with my armloads of groceries, there was a woman standing on the sidewalk in front of one of the other entrances, crying and screaming. She asked if I had a phone she could use to call the police. Well, of course I let her.

Apparently she and her boyfriend had a fight and he locked her out of the apartment. So she called 911 on my phone, and I kept trying to get her to come with me and wait for the police at my apartment, but she wouldn't, she just kept banging on her own door screaming and begging for the guy to let her back in. He kept yelling back through the door, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. The woman smelled very strongly of being drunk, and I suspect that the man was just as bad. So I stayed with her and tried to get her to calm down until the cops showed up.

Then I went and put my groceries away. Even from my apartment, I could hear those people screaming at each other. I was starting to get nervous-- what if the man came down and tried to make trouble because I'd helped the woman? I called Tirithien, and he said he'd come up and stay with me if I was scared, so I said yes, please. (If I hadn’t been able to reach him or he hadn’t been able to come up, I would have gone to stay at my aunt’s house for the night.)

While I was waiting, the woman knocked on my door and asked to use my phone to call the cops again. I guess when they'd been there before, they'd ordered the guy to let her back in, and as soon as they were gone he shoved her out again. So I let her use the phone, and she kept calling the boyfriend and screaming at him. Then she called the police, and went back out to wait for them.

A little while later and another knock on the door. The woman was standing there with two police officers, and asked if I would let her stay with me! Um, no. I'll let anyone borrow my phone to call for help, I'll give them kleenex and offer them water to drink, but there is no way in hell I am letting someone I have known for exactly one hour stay in my apartment! Especially when there is a shouting, probably drunk boyfriend involved in the situation. For all I know, she could have been the abusive one in the relationship, or she could let the boyfriend in as soon as I wasn’t paying attention, or robbed me blind, or anything.

So I told her there wasn't room, because my boyfriend would be home any minute (note how I worded that to increase my safety quotient), and there just wasn't room enough for three people to stay there. Then she tried to make me feel guilty about how she didn't have anywhere to go, but finally said, "Oh, well, I guess I can drive somewhere." And she and the cops wandered off. Couldn't they take her to a domestic violence shelter or something?

But they left, and Tirithien showed up shortly thereafter, and there was no danger from the shouting guy down the way, and now I am safely at work.

Exactly when did my town become a hotbed for crime? I went to high school in the next town over and it was perfectly safe. This town even moreso, because it’s more rural. No one comes here. I guess things change in 10 ½ years. I am starting to really not like this place. :-(