Mystery

So, Vince and I are in this constant dilemna of whether or not the neighborhood that we live in is a "bad" neighborhood.

We just moved into a one bedroom apartment in the City of Joliet, Illinois, a decent sized city right outside of Chicago. Our brown, three story aparment building is surrounded by many very similar other buildings, forming a large apartment complex. Our apartment is pretty standard apartment fare complete with outside hallways that smell like a curious blend of cigarette smoke and J. Alvin.

The neighborhood is not nice, but its not un-nice either. Its right off of a busy street littered with discount shopping places. The suburban neighborhoods closest to the apartment buildings are like normal suburban neighborhoods but just slightly more rundown and the houses are slightly smaller. But Is this an indication of the status of our safety?

What we cannot figure out is if our neighborhood could be called by such terms as "dangerous," or "unsafe."

Vince and I never really considered it until some of the following circumstances occured:

1.Vince's sister implied that it was sort of shady. This being a ridiculous statment, Vince and I scoffed at the idea, but then proceded to be more on edge when walking past groups of 1 or more people gathered near entrances in the apartment complex.

2.When we signed our lease, we got a bunch of papers, one of which was a coupon to Domino's pizza. When we called to order pizza at around 7:30 pm one night, they informed us that they do not deliver to our neighborhood after dark. We ordered from Pizza Hut. It was delicious.

3.Vince went to walgreens the other day to pick up some smokes. Its like 6:00 pm or something. He is walking out of Walgreens when a large African American Gentleman approaches him and proceeds to make statements to Vince, both advising Vince of his unfortunate current affairs and suggesting that Vince should monetarily assuage the accrued grief. The man made statements similar to the following:

• "Man I am f***ing hypoglycemic"
• "I Don't have any f***ing money right now"
• "Can you (f***ing) help me out?"

These questions were interspersed with vince mumbling statements like:

• "hmm"
• "dang"
• and "I have to go I have to be somewhere"

Not a big deal, except for directly afterwards as vince was walking to his car a large white man in an SUV pulled up behind Vince's vehicle, blocking his exit.

"get in the car" says the man."
"what?" says Vince.
"Did that guy hurt you?"
"what?"
"get in the f***ing car!"
"what?"
"that guy is dangerous and crazy!"

hmmm. seemed like that was just a crazy paranoid white guy. But are Vince and I just naive? Listen to some further indications:

4. Gunshots? we are pretty sure thats what we heard in the apartment buildings directly across the parking lot in the middle of the complex. Vince and I momentarily paused our Wii Boxing venture for approximately 10 seconds to peer casually out the window and then forgot about it. A police car showed up but it didnt seem too intense and we failed to further investigate the event, such was the quality of our boxing competition and the food we were consuming. My dad will probably send me an email of a news clipping of that shooting, asking me if i live nearby. I will probably reply that no, i live in a different suburb called "Joliette" and it has a french pronunciation.

5. At "Ultra Foods" the other day, the checkout girl was making casual conversation and we found that she lived in the same apartment complex as we do. "Lock your doors!" she cautioned, proceding to relate that her apartment was recently broken into.

So are these indications of a normal neighborhood or a mini-gotham city?

Vince and I have maintained a pretty cavalier attitude about our own personal safety, even finding it humorous. We have had several debates on the topic of the neighborhoods safety, none of them lasting more than 17 seconds. As soon as the topic is brought up, we realize its absurdity and dismiss it.

Yet in spite of this seeming offhandedness, indications like the ones related above keep the topic in the back of our minds, and a slight degree of uneasiness wedges its way in. Tonight before he went to bed, vince came out of his room in his boxers and asked me if i had locked the windows. "good" he said, as i replied in the afirmative. We recently bought rental insurance that will insure all of our stuff if it is stolen. We make sure the doors are always locked.

But until something really significant and unavoidable happens, we will probably continue boxing away our time on the Wii.