Life on Monroe

Early this afternoon, there were a couple of guys outside my apartment, downstairs on the corner. I've seen them both before; they appeared about a month ago. I don't think they live on Monroe, but hang out here. Judging by their associates, they're part of the drug trade going on in the complex.

So, one walks up the street and onto the property as if he lives here and he's talking to someone. I look down and see the other guy sitting right below my kitchen door, massaging his bare feet. Remember, neither one lives here. They just act like it.

About this time my neighbor from the other end of the building pulls up in her car and stops right next to them. I'm working on dinner (beef stew, mmmmmm....), so I'm not really paying attention, but when I step back out and look down, she's got her window open, a plastic bag on her lap. One of the guys has a bunch of singles fanned out in his hand resting on the car door. They're talking business. She rattles the bag, pulls something out and they trade. I didn't see the rest of it as I went back inside quietly, to not draw notice.

A moment later, they were all gone. Drove off or in the back, I don't know. Just poof and gone.

The neighbor's boyfriend is in jail, from an arrest several weeks ago. His third this year. He bonded out the first two; reportedly, $7500 and $16,000. This latest bond is supposed to be $175,000; he didn't make that. His girlfriend is still running the business, going around strapped, and has recruited an 8 or 10 year old cousin to help out.

The other drug dealer, the one who lives directly behind me, is still there. I can hear the music and see movement through the blinds. Haven't seen him lately. One night, morning really, I watched someone in the kitchen fire up a crack pipe. Otherwise, it's fairly quiet back there, except for the trickle of traffic.

And the downstairs lightbulbs that are either unscrewed or stolen regularly, to keep it dark down there. The rest of us -- the ones who actually pay rent and live here -- don't like coming up to the building in the dark, especially with all the transients hanging around.

Yeah, tell me Hustle & Flow doesn't portray the real Memphis.