Well, not last night, but a couple of weekends ago, I finally met my new neighbor, who moved into the vacant apartment next to mine.
And it's really weird, because as it turns out, he had actually moved in a few days before I met him, and I had no idea that anyone was even living over there because he's so damn quiet.
A quiet neighbor! Finally! It's a miracle! A f*cking Christmas miracle! I hope he never, ever moves out. We've talked a little bit; he's originally from Pakistan, and moved here from The City (what us hicks call NYC) to take a job with a local company.
And then I started noticing the coins. Pennies, dimes, sometimes quarters, scattered on the back porch by his door and on the stairs. At first I thought he was just accidentally dropping some change as he dug for his apartment key. And I picked up the change, because The Runt will attempt to eat just about anything, and I didn't want to be finding coinage in the litterbox. But the coins have started to occur more regularly, and I'm starting to wonder. Is this some sort of Pakistani custom? Is he purposely scattering the change to tempt the gods to bring him luck or something? Because if so, I don't want to be spoiling the tradition by picking up the coins; The Runt'll just have to take his chances in the gastrointestinal department.
I tried looking on line and couldn't find any info. Has anybody heard of coin-scattering as a tradition?
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4 comments:
He's leaving the money around so that your neighbor who is on the edge of eviction can get some money without feeling embarassed, maybe.
The more I think about it, the more that makes sense. Eid al-Fitr was last week and part of the holiday is charitable giving. There is a tradition in South Asia (especially in the part that turned into Pakistan) of sprinkling coins on the streets for the needy.
Of course, it's also possible that dude just has a hole in his pocket. I went out with a guy once whose apartment looked like the lair of the Change Fairy.
What is it about guys? When my sons were living at home both of their rooms had change all over the floor. I used to pick it up before I vacuumed and pile it on their dressers. One day I decided if they were too lazy to pick it up and too lazy to vacuum their rooms, then all money found was mine.
Bridgett, souldn't he leave the change in front of the guy getting evicted's door, instead of his own? But maybe putting it on the porch is his equivalent of sprinkling it in the street.
And Listie, I'm with you on the picking up of change. A quarter will wreak havoc on a vacuum!
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