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May 24, 2005
The Devil Among Us
Roya and I spent hours and hours cleaning the apartment in preparation for our exit inspection. At the last minute, Jess came home and helped out too. By this afternoon at 3 p.m. we were all exhausted, but the apartment had never looked nicer. We had been prepped by other students’ stories about the inspection process. Karlskronahem is supposedly VERY strict when it comes to cleanliness. Susan told us that the inspector actually swept for dust at the top of doorways.
We were determined not to get caught up in a costly dispute, so we had rallied all of our resources and were ready (if nervous) when the Kungsmarken caretaker arrived promptly to begin the inspection. Imagine our surprise when he strolled in, took a 20 second look at my room, and signed the paper acknowledging it was clean. He didn’t look at the windows I had so carefully cleaned (inside and out), nor the kitchen floor I had mopped three times (because we kept leaving footprints), nor the bathroom tiles I had so scrupulously scrubbed this morning. Nope—he just gave a genial wave of his hand and pronounced us “ok”.
Anyway, to get to the main part of my story…Part of the cleaning process involved placing items (my bike, the kitchen table, and the rugs) outside on the balcony to expose the floors for the aforementioned mopping). As I have mentioned before, the pigeons of Kungsmarksvägen are a rowdy bunch, and are particularly fond of perching on the balconies. Today I found myself shooing the birds away every 10 minutes, only to turn around and find that the stupid things had returned. Don’t they know how I loathe them? Don’t they know that I will always shoo them away—especially when they are threatening to poop all over our belongings? Don’t they know that pigeons die on our balcony?
I was momentarily distracted by the inspector, and then afterwards had to take my bike downtown to the bike shop, where it will be boxed up so I can mail it home on Thursday. (It was quite a nostalgic ride to the city center, knowing that it was the last time I would ride that particular path.) By the time I dropped off the bike, stopped at the bookstore to get a book for the trip to Turkey, ran to the grocery store, and took the bus back home, I had mostly forgotten about the pigeons. As I was putting away the groceries, Roya gently mentioned that she had figured out why the pigeons were so persistent today. Apparently, one of them had nested in the main carpet (which had been left lying in a heap on the balcony) and laid an egg.
I nearly had a heart attack. Thank goodness I only have to live here for 4 more days—I don’t think I could survive long-term in an apartment with a pigeon growing into it. That’s like asking a Baptist preacher to allow an abortionist to set up shop in the parking lot.
But, being the magnanimous person that I am (hold your sarcasm, please), I agreed to Roya’s pleas that we not immediately throw the nest over the side of the balcony. Moreover, I even committed to allowing the devil spawn to proceed breeding without interruption. I even took this picture so that the world can marvel at my generosity. See the evil glint in the mommy bird’s eye? I have only this to say to her:
You may have won this battle, but the war has only just begun.
Comments
I think you may have redeemed yourself for many sins with this one move.
Posted by: La at May 24, 2005 09:41 PM
Karma's a bitch.
Posted by: Carmen at May 24, 2005 11:44 PM
they didn't make it...
Posted by: roya at June 16, 2005 11:10 PM
