drugs

my parents would, of course, die if they knew this, (so, dl) but i think i live down the street from a drug house, and maybe two.

my street's about three blocks long. i live in the middle, which is by far, the nicest part of the street (the houses are small--but everything's well kept up and there are lots of nice young families.) The ends are not as nice--aka, the houses are run-down and populated with an entirely different crowd.

a few weeks back, i began to notice the same twenty-something thugish guys hanging around the end of the street. one usually sits in an old car--all day long--(i know: strange.) the others just kind of hang around, often wearing hoods and sunglasses. nicer cars come to the block sometimes and stop at the house. the real kicker is these guys thought i was one of those people, yesterday, i think. i was driving slowly with my windows down. anyway, they motioned for me to stop, but i kept driving (of course). they followed my car a little ways, then stopped. i think my mistake is that i used to wave at my neighbors, even those guys, as i passed. note to self: do not wave at thugs.

the real kicker (and what finally convinced me) was when i had a friend over for dinner last weekend. as soon as she came into my house, she said "quite a drug operation down at the end of the block, huh?" i had no idea these things were so obvious--but apparently, her husband used to do drugs before they met and she, too, lived by a drug house for awhile (in Vegas).

you would think i would be more worried, but i'm not too concerned--my neighbors are really nice and always out on their porch, so i feel pretty safe. the only downside is that i would love to bike or walk downtown or to school or friends' houses sometime and i'm realizing i really can't do that. if i want to go for runs, even after i'm feeling better, i think i'm going to have to drive a few blocks away, park my car and run from there.