Thou Shalt Not

We live in a really big apartment complex. Maybe 300 units, pretty big. There are always people moving in and out, and it's kind of sad that a lot of times we don't even notice when the people around us come and go... and so it goes with apartment life.

Maybe 3 weeks ago, I came home and saw movers carrying boxes and furniture to the apartment across the courtyard from ours. Funny, I never saw the other people leave. Nor the cleaning crew come in. Nor any prospective renters tour the place. Hmm... oh well. That was the only indication that new people were coming.

So maybe 2 weeks ago, Ryan and I are out in the courtyard with Ruckus & Monkey, enjoying the sunshine and the Mr. New Neighbor stops to say hello. He's about 55 years old and has a well worn black leather bible under one arm and proceeds to chat up a storm with us, including at least three back tracks where he apologizes that he can't stay and talk longer, but he's already spent all afternoon in the church parking lot with some other people talking and is 2 hours late and his wife will worry... and then he tells us about how they aren't "technically new" since they have lived here for 7 years, but on the other side, by the second pool, and that they loved the location, the patio got great sun and they had these plants that just loved it, but then they noticed that their cat was getting lethargic, and even though she is 10 years old, she had never been this lazy and almost seemed sick and so he started looking around to find a cause and that's when he found some spots of mold on the back of the cabinet under the sink and that must be it - the cat has mold poisioning so he called the vet and the vet couldn't say for sure, and the cat looked ok but he wasn't willing to take that chance and so he told the leasing office people that they had to move them right away because he couldn't risk his cat dying in a mold infested house...

Ryan and I just stood there, staring. Seriously, this guy didn't breathe. Then, with a quick "God Bless You" he bounded up the stairs to meet the wife. We thought that he was pretty nice, even if slightly odd. At least he wouldn't be hosting any raves or selling drugs out of there... he should work out just fine.

The next night at like 12:15am or so, Ryan and I decide that we're hungry and after much debate, we settle on Del Taco breakfast burritos. The perfect late night snack. We head out, down the stairs and see the new neighbor lady out on her set of stairs, scrubbing with a brush. Hands-and-knees scrubbing. Cinderella scrubbing. It was very weird. We suppress our bewildered looks and get into the car. When we got back, we again had to pass her, scrubbing away over there and could smell the pungent, unmistakeable smell of white vinegar. Weird, isn't it?

Since then, I have seen this woman scrubbing those stairs with her big ol' bottle of white vinegar several times... at all time of day and night. She's been out at 7am when I leave for work, out when we come home at 3am on a Saturday night, scrubbing at 11am, scrubbing at 8:30pm. I had initially thought that maybe she was germophobic or something and maybe was scared of the mold? Or ants coming up the front stairs? But now I am just puzzled... any ideas??