Back in my Stuart days, an elderly widower lived next door. After his wife passed, we were given an extra key to his house. This was during the late mid 1980's. One Sunday evening around 9:00 PM, we received a call from his panicked niece. Distressed, because she had been unable to reach him all day. He rarely left home!
My parents immediately assumed he had died! His niece wanted my father to go over. Dad was uncomfortable with the idea of finding him dead. So he called the police.
My father and the cop entered the dark house together. The neighbor was alive! He had been stuck in his bathtub since early morning.
An ambulance was summoned. Dad returned home.
"Was he naked?" my mother eager to know.
"No," I replied. "He was wearing a hat and socks!"
His niece came down from Chicago within the week. She was an older, retired woman. This was the first time I met "Gertrude." Although she had visited before when her aunt was alive.
My neighbor, her uncle died a year later, as did my mother. Since he had no children, Gertrude inherited his house. His money went to charity. She became a seasonal resident, a snowbird. Eventually, she planned to move down full time.
Gertrude and I became instant friends! Often we went out to dine. Plus we both had January birthdays which we celebrated together.
Gertrude was an only child from an affluent family. She inherited just short of a million dollars from her parents. But turned it into two million through her stock market savvy! She told her broker what to do, never the other way around.
Shortly after Gertrude came into my life, the neighborhood quickly began to change. Houses on the river like ours were getting bulldozed and mansions sprang up. Many of the people who resided in them were arrogant with a sense of entitlement. What I call the scumbag millionaires.
Gertrude never fit in with this crowd because she hated showy people who flaunted their wealth. However, she owned a brand new Lincoln Continental with all the bells and whistles. Plus she bought herself expensive jewelry as frequently as I buy the costume stuff at Thrift Shops. -- If you have money, there is nothing wrong with enjoying it! I know I would! My father also owned a Lincoln Continental at the time. But his was older and not as fancy.
However unlike the scumbag millionaires, she never tried to make me feel inferior. She was generous with her kindness.
Less than a year after my mother's death, Dad married "Avis" his mistress of 18 yrs.. My dad really knew how to pick'em! Gertrude found Avis phony and saw through her lies. She was the only neighbor who believed me as I related my abusive experiences with my new stepmother. Everyone else went over to the Avis side.
It's hard to believe all of this went down 20 yrs. ago. It still seems so vivid in my mind.
After a few years trapped with Avis, I suffered a big emotional breakdown. I ended up spending 4 hours in jail! Gertrude was the only neighbor who still wanted anything to do with me.
Many of those neighbors congregated in front of my house loudly and publicly reviling me, claiming I should be institutionalized. Gertrude was the only one who defended me. She told them all they were disgusting! Later, Gertrude brought me a pint of Hagen Daas.
Eventually, it was my stepmother who was institutionalized, and not me! Gertrude became even closer to me and Dad. She was at our house every day and numerous times.
Thanks to the new mansion on the other side, our property taxes skyrocketed! We were forced to sell our home of nearly 40 yrs.. My father was depressed. But I was eager to leave that neighborhood I had long hated! Gertrude was devastated. She told us repeatedly how lonely she would be.
The day we moved, she drove behind us in her new Lincoln Continental all the way to Vero Beach. She calmed our dog while we were busy directing the movers.
After my father's death, Gertrude often visited and gave me advice. We ate lunch at Dodger Pines Country Club. Which she loved! The two of us always exchanged letters during the months she was back in Chicago. As with my father, Gertrude's health began to fail with age.
On a late summer day, I returned from the movies. In the mailbox I found my last letter to her, returned. It was marked DECEASED! I remembered how excited she was at the thought of soon becoming a full time Florida resident. Now that would never happen. I cried. Never did I cry when my own mother died, not even once!
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