Bits and Pieces: Go ask Alex ~ Screaming But Unheard

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Go ask Alex ~ Screaming But Unheard

Posted by John on November 6, 2009, 11:09 am
24.166.142.254

About a month or so ago I had the day off and was enjoying a quiet afternoon at home when I heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Their sound continued to come closer and closer and finally stopped when fire trucks pulled up in front of our condominium complex. Ever since the fire we had in this complex a couple of years ago that killed a woman two doors down from my wife and I, we've subconsciously paid a little more attention to the sounds of sirens, so when the fire trucks arrived at my address again of course I was concerned.

I went out and talked to the firemen, and it turned out that a guy named Alex, who lives three doors down from us (and next to the daughter who still lives in the condo and survived the fire in which her mother was killed) called the fire department. Alex called the fire department because he said he could smell an odd smell in his condominium, which he described as an electrical burning type smell.

We have lived in this complex for 14 years, and Alex has lived here longer, so he was here when we moved in. My wife and I met Alex three days after we moved in, when he locked himself out of his house and needed to call a locksmith to let him back in. Since he was locked out of his house, he waited with my wife and I until the locksmith arrived and let him back in. In approximately the hour it took for the locksmith to arrive and open Alex's door, my wife and I talked with him, and it became obvious early on during that hour that there was something wrong with Alex. We didn't know what it was, but later, after Alex was let back in his house, we talked with the neighbor next door to us who said that Alex was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, which explained a lot. Approximately 5 years ago Alex forgot his keys and locked himself out again, and he called the locksmith again and again he waited with us for them to come and let him back in. I should have thought of it the first time it happened, but all of the units in our complex have two locks; one is a key-in-knob lock on the door knob, and the other is a deadbolt. I told Alex to never use the key-in-knob lock on his door, because all it requires to lock the door is turn the thumb turn on the knob, walk out, and close the door, but instead to always use the deadbolt since this requires you to have the key in your hand while you're outside, and he hasn't locked himself out since.

To tell you the truth I was actually very relieved when I learned that Alex had called the fire department because he thought he smelled something burning and I learned the rest of the story. While the firemen were checking Alex's unit, the daughter whose mother was killed in the fire said she claims the neighbors next to Alex (neighbors 4 doors down from us) smoke crack cocaine, and the smell of them smoking it seeps from their unit, into Alex's, through Alex's and into her unit, and she can smell it sometimes too. I asked her what it smelled like, and she said it smelled like acetone, or fingernail polish.

The firemen checked Alex's condominium and did not smell anything odd or detect anything unusual. They did find by looking through the windows of the alleged crack smoker's unit that despite them not being home, all of their lights were on on the first floor, and the ceiling fans were running. The woman who lives next to Alex told the firemen of her suspicion that the occupants of the unit next to Alex smoked crack, but they didn't enter the unit and check it because they had no right or reason to.

These incidents, along with meeting Reginald this summer (another paranoid schizophrenic) has given me a new appreciation for mental illness. So when I heard that an Army psychiatrist shot and killed 13 people and wounded 31 others, I didn't know what to think and still don't because all of the facts have not come out yet and without a clearer understanding of them knee-jerk reactions are just that and are useless. But although my experience with mental illness has been admittedly limited, it has to be an absolutely terrible way to go through life, and reinforces the luck I feel in the lives that my wife and I do have.

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