#38 - James Joseph Dresnok

The absolute worst thing about the Daltreys was their refusal to acknowledge the kindness Suzie (and Jimmy, for that matter) had shown them in the beginning. Even the very first day, when she and Jimmy should have been shampooing the carpets in their own home, they had instead spent the entire miserable afternoon hauling dusty furniture and burdensome crates filled with issues of National Geographic from the back of the U-Haul into the Daltrey’s new home. Between the dust and the moldy magazines, Suzie felt like someone had shoved fuzzy pink insulation up her nose. It had nearly caused an asthma attack, which, up till that day, she had never previously suffered. Jimmy had worked until the front of his shirt was soaked through with sweat and his face was the color of cooked ham.

Carl Daltrey had said thank you that day, but in an unconvincing manner. His wife, Meg, seemed pleased to let him do all the talking. By the time they were all moved in, it was far too late for Suzie and Jimmy to get anything useful done around their own home, and so they instead drove to Dillons and did their grocery shopping for the week. Suzie was doing her best to reserve judgment on their new neighbors, trying to maintain a neutral attitude toward them, but even then, she had an intuition that the Daltreys might be trouble. Years later, after their mutual enmity had been firmly established, she reminded Jimmy of what she had said that day. “Remember, Jimmy? I said, ‘those new neighbors, I just don’t know about them.”

The Daltreys racked up several offenses in just the first few weeks in their new house. Crimes against the neighborhood included not watering their lawn enough. It mostly turned yellow, except for a few patches where it thrived, creating green islands of tall grass that they refused to mow. They assembled a portable basketball hoop and placed it at the side of the driveway for their gangly teenage daughter to use. It was blown over during a storm and the impact twisted the rim, making the whole thing useless. For weeks is remained toppled over at the side of their house, a complete eyesore. But it was their mounds of garbage that most of the neighbors hated. The amount of trash the Daltreys produced led many neighbors to speculate that they might be running some type of illegal manufacturing operation out of their home. By garbage day each week, their pile of overstuffed black trash bags spilled out of the container provided by the sanitation company and onto the road in front of their house. How in the world can one family create so much waste? People wondered.

The impression the Daltreys had made on the neighborhood was bad enough, but their crimes against Suzie and Jimmy were far more personal and substantial. Suzie kept a list of offenses, which she was always careful to point out was only partial. There was no way to keep track of all the ways the Daltreys had abused their next-door neighbors. On many occasions, Suzie had witnessed the Daltrey’s spotted mutt, Lady, cross the yard to poop on her property. The Daltreys were smokers, and on nice days, when Suzie would have liked to open the windows for some fresh air, she was forced to keep them closed due to the second-hand pollution that would inevitably waft into her home. The Daltreys argued constantly, and loud enough to be heard through closed doors and walls. The Daltreys possibly stole newspapers. The Daltreys never apologized. The Daltrey’s cooking smelled bad. The Daltreys didn’t decorate for Christmas. The Daltreys borrowed a socket wrench and never returned it. The Daltreys never said ‘thank you’. The Daltreys, as far as Suzie and Jimmy could tell, truly hated Suzie and Jimmy.

The animosity Suzie felt toward the Daltreys was intensified one summer when her nephew, Topher, who was supposed to spend the months of July and August with her and Jimmy, began showing interests in the Daltrey’s daughter after only two weeks. She wasn’t even aware that the two had any knowledge of one another until she arrived home from her women’s group one Tuesday afternoon and found Topher and the Daltrey girl huddled together on the side of the house. They were sitting side-by-side on a railroad tie used to frame Suzie’s flower garden. When she saw them there, she hopped out of her Ford Explorer and walked right up to them.

“Excuse me.” She said to the Daltrey girl, giving her a polite smile. “I need to have a little talk with Topher.” Suzie had hoped that the Daltrey girl would hop up and head home, but when she didn’t, Suzie said, “Topher, could you follow me inside?”

Sitting there side-by-side, Topher and the Daltrey girl looked like they could’ve been siblings. They were both terribly thin and lanky, with bare knees and elbows pointing everywhere at sharp angles. Their hair, too, shared a similar waxy, unwashed appearance, and it hung straight and limp down to the shoulder.

Topher must have sensed tension in Suzie’s tone. “Is there something wrong, Aunt Suzie?” He looked up at her with big, innocent eyes.

“I’d prefer to discuss it inside, if that’s okay?” Suzie replied, presenting the softest expression she could muster.

Topher stood up. Though he was only fifteen, he was already a few inches taller than his aunt.

“Uh, I guess I’ll see you later.” He said to the Daltrey girl.

“See ya.” The girl said. She stood, and when she did, Suzie caught a whiff of something. She sniffed the air.

Her eyebrows shot up and she said, “Has one of you been smoking?”

“No.” Topher said, sharply.

Suzie stepped toward the girl and breathed in deeply. She made an affected expression of disgust, and shaking her head, said, “Topher, I was trying to save this girl some face and say this to you in private, but looks like I don’t have a choice. This girl is trouble – her whole family is trouble – and I won’t allow you to talk with her again. Trust me, you’d be better off if you’d never met her.”

She grabbed Topher by the arm and pulled him toward the house.

“She wasn’t smoking – “ He said, and then, “Sorry, Dona.”

Dona rolled her eyes at Suzie and said, “She hates us. Nothing we can do about it.”

Suzie stopped in her tracks. “I hate you?” She walked back to the girl and stared her in the face. “Since the day you and your family moved in, I have done nothing but try and show you kindness. And what do I get in return? Dog do-do in my yard! Your parents shouting matches till midnight! Garbage piled up on the road!” She grabbed Topher’s arm again and pulled him behind her toward the front door. “I’ve got nothing against you, young lady, but it’s your parents who hate me. You’re a little confused.” She said.

Inside, Topher pulled his arm free and headed toward the guestroom where he was staying. Suzie followed behind him at a close distance. He flopped down on the bed with his face in a pillow, his long, skinny legs, dangling off the side.

“Topher, I’m going to give you this warning once. Stay away from that girl. She and her family are not good people.” Suzie said.

“Her name’s Dona.” Topher said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

“Now, if you don’t obey me, I’ll have to give your parents a call. And it isn’t going to be easy getting hold of them over there in Asia.” She said from the doorway.

She left him there on the bed and went to the kitchen to start dinner. Later, as they gathered around the table eating pork steaks and roasted potatoes, Topher remained silent and avoided eye contact with her.

“I bought an apple pie today. You like apple pie, Topher?” She said, hoping to end the stand-off.

He didn’t respond.

“I know you’re upset with me, but listen, we still have several weeks to go here, and I don’t think I can handle the hostility I’m feeling from you right now. Can we call a truce, Topher?” She said.

Again, he didn’t react to her question. He stared down at his plate.

“Well, looks like you’ve decided to make me your enemy tonight.” She said, stabbing a potato with her fork.

At the sound of her fork hitting her plate, Topher jumped up from his seat and rushed out of the kitchen.

Jimmy glanced up from his food and asked, “Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know.” Suzie said. She laid her utensils down and followed after him. She watched as he rushed out the front door.

“Topher!” She shouted. But he was already headed across the lawn to the Daltrey’s home. When he reached their front door, he pressed the doorbell button and knocked three times.

Suzie was making her way across the yard when the Daltrey’s front door opened. Their girl, Dona, was there in the doorway briefly, and then, before Suzie could shout his name again, the girl grabbed Topher and yanked him into the house. The door closed behind them, and as Suzie approached, she heard the lock being turned. 

For several minutes Suzie stood and pounded on the door. But though she could hear voices inside, no one answered. 

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To learn more about James Joseph Dresnok, read the original Wikipedia article HERE.