Love Thy Neighbor

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I'll introduce a cast of characters who play very interesting roles in my grandmother's life, but for now I want to talk about a woman who was her next door neighbor for a very long time: Ms. BD. I've shortened her name, not to protect her but because I really can't figure out what her name is. As we were growing up, she was called one thing, but as I started typing this, I realized that wasn't her name and that southern Black folks really chopped people's names to pieces. For example: I have an aunt named Shirley Ann. Everyone in the family pronounces her name in such a way to where it sounds like ShellAnne. I have an aunt named Vanessa. Everyone in the family calls her Net. No idea where that comes from. My mother's name is Josephine, but everyone called her Jo'phine. So, my point: I really don't know what my grandmother's neighbor's name is so she shall be called BD because I know for a fact there was a B and a D in her name.



So, Ms. BD was an alcoholic who didn't think she was an alcoholic. She was also a nurse's assistant who thought was a nurse. She was also someone who thought she was above all the other people who ran a tab in my grandmother's kitchen. She rarely visited my grandmother's when there was a large crowd. I had many opportunities to sit and listen to Gramps and Ms. BD talk.



Ms. BD would talk while drinking vodka and orange juice; Gramps would listen and drink iced tea. She loved iced tea. Most of the time, the two women discussed the obituaries or the latest hospital admittance (since Ms. BD worked at the hospital and Gramps knew almost everyone in town). The more Ms. BD drank, the louder she became. Gramps had boundaries people just couldn't cross. Once a customer started swearing through their alcohol-induced stupor, it was time to go. Ms. BD always insisted she wasn't drunk and she never took too kindly to being kicked out. She would leave the house calling Gramps all sorts of names. My Gramps was always the perfect picture of patience.