once, when i lived with martha on walton in ukrainian village, i was getting ready for bed and i turned to notice a man watching me undress. he had planted a wooden box under my window. i saw that box weeks before and thought my landlord put it there but i guess that man must have been watching me the whole time. it scared the shit out of me, looking at my window and seeing someone's face staring at me. so i ran out of my room, screaming my sleeping roommate's name. she got up, as scared as me, and we called the police. the two of us sat there, practically shaking, when all of a sudden there's this frantic, terrifying pounding on our front door and the bay window next to it. we were to afraid to answer it so we crawled to the front window to see if we could peek without being seen, and sure enough it was a cop. he couldn't just ring the bell?

anyhow, we opened the door, told the cop the story and i described the peeping tom. he wrote some notes but he basically told me there was probably nothing he could do cause the guy was probably long gone by now, and to call back if it happened again.

about an hour later, once my roommate and i thought it was done for the night, the doorbell rings. it's the cop. he tells me that he found the guy - a neighbor - "retarded" he called him. "just some kid who doesn't know what he's doing. here's his phone number." he gave me the guy's phone number. "what the hell am i supposed to do with this?" i asked, without the hell. he says "look, i didn't have to help you at all you know. i'm doing you a favor and you can't even be grateful. i could have just left without looking at all." i am grateful, i say, thank you for finding him. i still don't know what i'm supposed to do with the phone number but i'll take it and think about it. "forget it" he says like a child. "i'm not going to give it to you now." and he turned around and walked away.

i stood there shocked - totally at ease about the peeping tom, he wasn't a threat to me anymore - but now i was scared to death of the cop!

- Celia