Aren't People Funny

The people in the story I am about to tell did not look as friendly as the woman in this picture.

One afternoon, about a week after we moved to the new apartment, Laynie emailed me that someone was parked in front of our garage, so she couldn't pull in. There were a few people nearby, so she gestured and honked the horn, I guess, and they just went into the building. She ended up parking in the lot in front of the building, which has unassigned parking spots (obviously the space directly in front of our garage is assigned to us). She mentioned that it was a black car, and I thought I had seen the car before, parked in front of the garage next to ours. Laynie said that the garage next to ours had a disability services van in front of it. Suspicious, eh?

I was on my way home at the time, and when I called the apartment complex office, they gave me the phone number to have the car towed. Hmm. I decided to go home and see if I could find the car's owner before I called the towing company.

Sure enough, it was the car I had seen in front of the garage next door. A black car with Michigan plates. I thought that garage belonged to the people directly below us, so I knocked on their door. A woman bellowed, "WHO IS IT?" I waited.

The door opened to reveal several nurses: two by the door, one in the dining room, and one in the living room. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, I'm Annie, I live upstairs.

Nurse by door: Hi

(Other three nurses stare at me.)

Me: Do any of you drive a black Nissan with Michigan plates XXX-XXX?

(All four look at each other without saying anything then stare at me.)

Me: It's blocking our garage.

Nurse by door: Well, I don't know whose it is. I mean, it's not mine. (Looks at the other nurses, who shrug.)

Me: OK, I just wanted to check before the towing service gets here. Sorry to both--

Nurse in dining room, cutting me off: What kind of car did you say?

Me: A black Nissan with Michigan plates XXX-XXX.

Nurse in dining room: Oh, that's mine.

Me: It's parked in front of our garage, and you need to move it right now. I'd hate to see it get towed.

(Dining room nurse gets her keys, and I follow her out of the building.)

Punks. I could not believe she was just going to lie and leave her car blocking our garage. Please, like I'm going to take that.

As an epilogue, they have not parked in front of our garage again, even when the disability services van is parked in front of theirs (though obviously it's not "theirs," because they just work in that apartment). They do, however, give me the staredown if they are in front of the building, smoking, when I get home.