tsubame

The Tooth and the Terrorist

A most unusual and peculiar thing has just happened. I came home and sat down to write a blog entry and popped a Christmas chocolate in my mouth, began chewing and suddenly felt something crunching in my mouth. I spat out small white pieces that were very hard, like grains of fine sand.

Recently I have been having trouble with a tooth that had cracked years ago and had to be broken in two, the remaining half filled artificially. Since having the wisdom tooth removed on that side, I have been having problems with food getting stuck in behind the artificial part. I have to floss after every meal in order to get out all the food that sticks in there. This evening I flossed before going out and felt an edge on the artificial part with my tongue. I wondered if the filled in half needed to be redone. Was it coming apart? The floss was also shredding quickly. As I had a slight tooth ache the other night I called the dentist the next morning to make an appointment but the dentist would not be in and until the week of the 16th and couldn’t see me until the 19th. No matter. I could put up with a little discomfort for two weeks.

So this evening I was very surprised when after spitting out the small white grains I touched my filling area and felt a gap, not in the filling but in the tooth in front of that one. Part of the tooth had shattered and now there is a hole. I can only imagine how I will feel when I drink cold water or eat something. But why, I have to wonder did that tooth break? I am not sure why the first tooth cracked as I have always had good results from visiting the dentist. And then a cracked tooth. And now a shattered tooth with a noticeable hole. I brush twice a day and I have been flossing three times a day lately. What is the problem? I hope the office is open tomorrow (today actually – it’s almost 1am).

Well, now on to my original entry.

There is a girl at work, an Indo-Canadian girl, who I think is very nice and she gets along with just about everyone. Back in October she broke up with her boyfriend. He was getting into using drugs and she didn’t want any more to do with him. Shortly after breaking up with him he started calling her at work and when she tried to refuse his calls or ignore him he tried new tactics to get her attention like threatening her. He said that if he ever saw her with another man he would kill both of them.

One night he showed up at Anipet around the time she was leaving an accosted her in the parking lot. He swore and yelled at her and then broke the window of her car. The police were called and he was taken away for an overnight stay in the local jail. The next day some of the warehouse guys checked the parking lot before the girl went home. She left safely enough but when she got home he was there and smashed the window of her sister’s car. When she came out to tell him to get lost he grabbed her arm and bit her wrist hard. The police were called again and he was taken away. The next day at work she told me the story and showed me a terrible bruise on her wrist with the clear red marks of teeth around the bruise.

At this point I think she planned to charge him and see his sorry butt off to jail. But his uncle called her and begged for her to drop the charges. He said they had once been close and if she cared for him she would forgive him. He also apologized for the behaviour of his nephew and promised that if she dropped the charges he would see that his nephew never bothered her again. The police said that unless she wanted to charge him they would have to let him go. The jerk was set free.

The next stage in the story came when he was supposed to go to rehab for his drug problem. His family asked her to take him there. Why she agreed I don’t know but she did. After she left, he left the rehab and called her at work on her cell phone an hour later. He refused to go in for rehab. She said that’s too flipping bad and she didn’t care. Buzz off. So he began calling her at home and at work. She talked to his uncle and said she would go to the police again if he didn’t stop harassing her. Again, there was temporary peace.

At New Years, exactly at 12 o’clock he called her and began arguing with her. Two days later he asked her for money. She told him no way, so he showed up at Anipet as she was arriving to work and he took her bag with her lunch and money. In the process he scratched her arm with his nails so she bled. He returned later and gave her back the bag and the lunch but the $50 inside was gone.

Thursday night he called her and said he wanted to talk to her. She said, “F**k off. I am trying to sleep. I don’t want to talk to you.” His reply was, “Well, you can’t sleep when you’re dead,” and moments later he appeared outside her window on the second floor. He had taken a ladder from somewhere and climbed up on the roof. The police were called yet again. During their visit she made a comment about his drug habit. He said that she sold many more drugs than he did. The police said the issue was his trespassing and that he was going to be taken to jail. He said they couldn’t arrest him unless they took her too.

He was supposed to be in jail for 24 hours but today at 11 o’clock, while the warehouse guys were all in the staff room, he came back. One of the woman in the warehouse came rushing in saying, “Where’s a guy? I need a guy out there now. Her ex-boyfriend is back.”

“Okay, guys. Let’s mob him,” I said. I tend to feel rather protective of my friends and co-workers and I had been waiting for a chance to see this jerk. I stood up and everyone put down his sandwich and we went out to the warehouse door.

There, peering in the door, was an Indo-Canadian man in his mid to late twenties. He was wearing a black baseball cap and had curly hair, an average face, acne scares on his cheeks, and humble, non-threatening eyes. He stood like a lost sheep in the doorway.

Texan-by-birth Master Tex was first to the doorway. “Take off,” he said with a wave of his hand. Tex is in his fifties but he has a wild 15-year old son and doesn’t take crap from anyone.

I stepped up beside Tex as the Sheep leaned in the doorway. “I want to talk to her,” he said quietly. Just then a young guy of about 19 named Don came up. He stuck a cigarette between his lips and walked right up to the Sheep. Without opening the door further, Don, who is slightly taller, glared the Sheep right in the eye with the coolest look of, “Who the f**k are you anyway?” and pushed past him.

By this time, there were maybe five of us standing together and one guy said, “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“I just want to see her for two minutes,” he whined.

“She doesn’t want to see you.” That was Ken.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you.” That was Karan.

“It’s not me,” he said. “Tell her Gurdy wants to talk to her.”

“Yeah, we’ll tell her,” said Tex. “Now get out of here.” And with that he slammed the door in the Sheep’s face.

I saw the girl and told her what happened. I told her about ‘Gurdy.’

“F**k that,” she fumed. “I’m not talking to no f**kin’ Gurdy.”

Then someone said he had gone to the office. Where was the manager? In a meeting upstairs. Then the staff manager of the warehouse women, Fay, came in and she went straight to the front office. She is not a tall woman at all but she is fearless and tough. She told him to get the hell out and locked the door. The police were notified.

Of course, it was all the talk of the warehouse for the next little while. Master Tex said he wished it could be done like at home: cock the shotgun and tell the bastard to take off. Paranoid Android commented on Don’s smooth and very gangster in-your-face move.

It was the girl’s birthday. She turned 24. Knowing he would be around to harass her, she made arrangements to leave at noon and take off to Seattle for the weekend. She worried that he was waiting for her across the street as he had done before. When her mother and brother came to get her she had Fay escort her safely to the car.

Around two o’clock I was unloading some items from a van when the Sheep came back and approached three women sitting outside having a smoke. I didn’t hear what he said but immediately went outside and told him, “She’s gone.”

“I want to talk to her.”

“Well, she’s not here. She left.”

He looked at me with a disbelieving smile and shook his head slightly. “No.”

“Yes. She left because she didn’t want to talk to you.” I felt fairly calm. Earlier I wasn’t prepared and felt shaky with nervous excitement as I usually do in times of conflict. But when I know I am right I can be calm on the surface, though my blood is boiling inside. I had been waiting for this moment when I could face him one on one and tell him what I knew of his despicable behaviour.

“No,” he smiled again with a shake of his head. He didn’t believe me. “She gets off at four thirty.”

“Not today. She came in early and left early so she wouldn’t have to see you.” I stepped closer and crossed my arms, looking him straight in the eye the whole time.

“But I have a surprise for her.” The devil himself couldn’t have said it better.

“Oh, I have heard about your surprises,” I said feeling more powerful. “You attack her, threaten her, break her window, steal her money, climb up on her roof and try to get in her room.”

“What?” He said trying to look shocked and hurt. “Steal her money? When? Break her window? When? No…” Who was he fooling? Okay, I only have from her that he stole her money or climbed on her roof. But I saw the bite mark; staff saw him break her car window; and the fact that he keeps showing up here ads validity to the girl’s stories.

“Well, you took her bag from her the other day here. And you climbed on her roof just last night. Is it any wonder the police know you so well?”

“No, I… I have a surprise for her.” He was trying to plead.

Just then one of the women spoke up. “The best surprise you could give her would be to never see her again. Besides, you are not supposed to be here. The police have been called already.”

“I just want to talk to her for two minutes,” he begged.

“She’s not here. She left,” I reiterated with more sterness. “Now get away from here. We don’t need you bothering us.”

He sulked away but went to the building next door. The police came and a constable was speaking to him out by the entranceway to the warehouse next door. Someone from the warehouse came out to see what was going on. I went about my business. It was only after I found out that since his first visit to Anipet and his display of violence he was barred from setting foot on the Anipet premises.

So concluded the latest episode in the stalking ex-boyfriend. What will happen next? He doesn’t know that she left town for the weekend. Why can’t he be kept away from her? How far will he ultimately go? Why can’t he leave her alone? Does he still love her and if so, why doesn’t he choose a more romantic tactic to woo her? Or does he just want her money to support his drug habit? Why did she try to help him? Will she break down again?

So many questions. The main one I’d like to know is what can we do secretly outside the law to make sure he gets the point: Leave her alone!

Posted by tsubame at January 7, 2006 02:02 AM | TrackBack