I’ve written a few times about the troublesome, perpetually drunk neighbors whose lease was not renewed. They were supposed to be moved out by midnight Saturday. I had predicted, back in July, when we found out they had to leave, that they wouldn’t make it out in time…

Since I have called them Drunk and Drunker, for purposes of this post I will refer to the guy who moved in years ago with his now-deceased significant other and has been through a string of equally dysfunctional roommates (including one who died of an overdose) as Mr. Drunk. And I will refer to the latest dysfunctional roommate who has gotten into several arguments this last month angrily reminding Mr. Drunk that she is just his housemate no matter what feelings he may harbor, as Ms. Drunker.

Last weekend, Mr. Drunk’s sister, mother, and other people showed up with a small rental truck, loaded a bunch of stuff in it, and took Mr. Drunk away. They ignored the giant pile of junk (broken furniture, innumerable boxes of things ordered from a shopping network, a dead refrigerator, et cetera, et cetera) that Mr. Drunk and Ms. Drunker have been piling in the parking spaces behind the building since getting the move-out order.

They also ran over one of my flower beds and destroyed a decorative solar-powered light.

All week long I have seen Ms. Drunker being visited by various and sundry men who only occasionally appear to be helping her pack. I should mention that Ms. Drunker does not have a car of any kind, and identifies herself as a musician as her sole means of employment.

At random moments all week long raised voices could be heard coming from over there, although truth be told, before Mr. Drunk moved out, whenever they had company the sounds of raised, usually obviously drunken-sounded voices, could be heard.

Saturday was the last day that either Mr. Drunk or Ms. Drunker were supposed to be in the apartment. And Saturday morning a truck/dumpster combo with the logo of a local junk-removal company backed into the driveway between our building and the building Ms. Drunker lives in. People I didn’t recognize carried a bunch of stuff out of the apartment, including a mattress/box springs combo, and loaded it into the truck.

We had people coming over to our place for a work party for the sci fi project of which I am the editor, so I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what was going on. It was my husband, Michael, who told me after he took some things out to the recycle bins after the junk haulers left that the pile of junk in the parking area had actually gotten larger.

We had our work party. It was fun and productive. As has become our habit for these things, everyone who came to the work party walked up to Market Street in the evening to have dinner together.

During the walk, we passed a house where some people were grilling in the front yard. The house belongs to an elderly man who I have said “hello” to over the years, but never got to know well. He has moved into a medical facility and younger relatives are living in his house “temporarily.” As we walked by, a person sitting at a table in the yard called out, “Hello!” It was Ms. Drunker. I wasn’t sure what to think, but I waved back and we kept walking.

When we all got back after dinner, I saw our landlady outside, talking to Ms. Drunker and yet another pair of strange men. I took the opportunity to grab my checkbook and go hand off the rent check.

Our landlady is not the owner of the building where Drunk and Drunker have lived. She has spent the years Mr. Drunk was living there keeping her blinds closed because Mr. Drunk is constantly outside, usually just wearing only his robe, smoking, and glaring at the world. She’s wanted him gone for a long time.

She pulled me aside as I handed her the rent check and said in a low voice, “Ms. Drunker is supposed to be out at midnight, but look at them! They aren’t going to make it.”

I murmured something sympathetic back.

She continued, still whispering, “Did you hear this morning? I was in my kitchen and I heard Mr. Drunk’s voice. For a second I thought I was having a nightmare! I guess he came back to pick up a few things he forgot. Not to deal with any of the trash, of course…”

Later that night, after our friends had left, I was trying to go to sleep. My hay fever had been acting up a bit, so I was sort of dozing and tossing and turning. Suddenly I heard very angry voices outside. I recognized Ms. Drunker’s voice, but not the male voice arguing with her. I couldn’t quite hear what was being said, though several instances of “F— you!” punctuated both. I heard what sounded like running, when Ms. Drunker yelling and apparently chasing the man. From out in front of the house I heard her very clearly yelling. “F— you! F— you and stay the f— out of my life!”

I remember rolling over and squinting at the clock. I don’t remember exactly what time it told me (so I was more asleep than I thought), but I do remember having the thought, “Well, it’s a ways after midnight and she’s still not out…”

Sunday I woke up with hay fever even worse, so I wasn’t moving fast. I decided to walk up to the grocery store to pick up some things for breakfast. I hadn’t gotten very far when I saw Ms. Drunker apparently coming out of the house of another neighbor about half a block further up the street. She looked around sort of skittish-like, and started walking toward the store. She had this little fold-up cart thing that I’ve seen her carry groceries home in. I thought, “Well, maybe she’s moved in with them?”

The house she had appeared to come out of is owned by another weird neighbor who has occasionally let his perpetually-being-rebuilt Alfa Romeos roll out into the street, or start beeping spontaneously, and other things. It seemed almost fitting that they might have decided to become roomies or something.

As I walked by said house, I could see the front door was standing wide open, and no sign of anyone inside. I was just wondering if she had forgotten to close the door behind her when I saw her stop in front of another house further up the road, look around real quick, and then she darted out of sight. A half minute later she reappeared on the sidewalk, looked around as if to see if anywhere was watching her, and started walking again.

She did this twice more. I couldn’t see what she did each time, and I was telling myself I was being paranoid. When she reappeared on the sidewalk the last time and looked around, that was when she finally seemed to notice me walking up the sidewalk behind her. She got a very startled look on her face, then whirled around and walked much more quickly toward the grocery store.

I ran into her twice in the grocery store, and both times she laughed nervously, and quickly moved away.

I was doing laundry all day, which involves me walking down past her place to get to our laundry room. Over the course of the rest of the day, every time I went by, the sound of a television turned way up came out of the apartment. Sometimes I saw her standing around talking to these two men I don’t know. One time when I came out of the laundry room one of the men had his cellphone on speakerphone, and he was holding out in front of himself, having a very loud conversation (why the heck to do people do that?) which involved arranging some kind of rental for moving and storage.

One reason laundry took me all day was that, thanks to the hay fever, I kept falling asleep. So when I went to get the last load out of the dryer, it was 10:00pm. Twenty-two hours after the very last moment she was allowed to be there.

Because it was dark outside and they have all the blinds up and lights on, I could see inside the living room and kitchen. There are still three big easy chairs in there. One of the men was sitting in one, staring at the TV that was still blaring. No sign of her or the other man. The place doesn’t look any different through the windows than it looked one evening earlier this week when I walked by under similar conditions.

I have no idea if Ms. Drunker has been in communication with her landlord. I haven’t seen any sign of him. I don’t know when he’s planning to show up to confirm they’re out, or what. But I suspect whenever it is there will be more drama.

I hate that I was right predicting they wouldn’t be out in time.