One day a few months after I moved in (a year ago!), I saw the woman who lives in the apartment below mine. She's so old that I joked she must have moved in the building when it was originally built...in 1860. Well, last week, I met her next door neighbor...who is equally as old.
I was down in the lobby, and had just gone through the inner security door when I saw her struggling to get through the front door from the street. (Those are the original doors, and they're like 100 feet high and weigh about 827 pounds. You think I'm making those numbers up? Oh, you're right.) She's only about 5 feet tall (not making that up), and all wobbly like a person who was born in 1860 would be. Both her hands had a grocery bag in them. As I held the inner security door open for her, she spoke to me.
Except almost no sound came out.
How to explain that? Her vocal chords are nonexistent. Imagine trying to understand someone speak in your second language...without any sound. I leaned down and read her lips and still felt lost.
I walked with her to the elevator, pushing the button and waiting for it to arrive. When it did and I helped open the door, she silently spoke again.
(Harry Potter fans: Do you remember in the movie when Nagini was pretending to be the Bagshot lady and how she moved all slowly and silently and creepy? It was like that, but not scary but sweet.)
She repeated her phrase and then I asked, "You would like me to help you?" She nodded. So I rode in the elevator with her, and she held on to me for dear life as it moved. She asked, "You live on the third floor?" I said, "Yes. And you live on the second?" She nodded. (I honestly think only the second and third floors of my apartment building have residents...the three floors above me seem to still be being remodeled or are for long-stay tourists.)
We got to her floor, and I waited as she opened the door so I could peek into her apartment. Yup...she's been there since 1860 alright. Napoleon III wallpaper and everything.
1 comment:
hehehe!! Napoleon wallpaper...you should try to sneak a picture one of these days. ;-) Bathilda Bagshot is one of the creepiest things in HP (and by the way, I've finally read them all and seen all the movies! you should be proud).
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