I finally did it — I called the police on my neighbor. I’d think that, after our little conversation today, he’d have the good sense to tone it down for at least one night, but apparently not. It’s not like I haven’t given him lots and lots of warning over the past six months, having tried notes, conversations with the landlord, various wall-banging techniques, and even baking the guy cookies, pathetically enough. The dispatcher was really helpful, and when I described the history of the problem to her, she agreed that it was right to get the police involved now.
About five minutes later, a strange thing happened. The music ended abruptly, and people started streaming out of the apartment, talking about leaving before the cops showed up. (Sound carries all too well from the hallway.) That had never happened before. Perhaps five minutes later, the police officer showed up, just in time to catch the stragglers. When he knocked on the door, one of the partygoers was sent to fetch my favorite neighbor. It took fully three minutes for the kid to come to the door, which upset the cop, because he knew he was getting jerked around. Presumably, he’d been hiding his stash. Jesse was quite drunk, and pleaded, near tears, that the cop please not get him in trouble and not search the place. He even had the nerve to say that he didn’t want any trouble, to which the officer pointed out that his neighbor (me) didn’t want any trouble, either, but that hadn’t been working out. After several minutes of his drunken pleas and the officer gathering the guy’s vital data, a girl showed up. She identified herself as the roommate.
Ah-ha! I knew that there was a girl living next door. When asked about their relationship, she described herself as “just the roomate,” which a) explains the purse that I saw in the bedroom and b) means that this guy must be sleeping in the living room, which has got to be a bummer, because these are awfully small apartments for two people. The girl was cooperative, sweet, and told the officer just what he wanted to hear. He let them off with a warning, having sufficiently terrified the both of them.
And now, the glorious sounds of silence. I’m determined to get at least 10 hours of sleep.