A Pause Before The Frolics

 Tis the season to be jolly. 

And we'll be right back to all that is jolly after this little bit of holiday despair. Over the summer we got the news that the little girl that lived across the street from us and helped teach our son how to walk had died. The circumstances, at the time, were called "suspicious." She was found unresponsive, face down in her bathtub. She was no longer a little girl. She had grown up and had four children of her own. She had moved away rom across the street, but we kept track of her and were were crushed to hear the news of her passing. 

Our reaction was less agonizing for another neighborhood-related homicide. A local restauranteur was shot and killed in front of his eleven year old son. It was not necessary to include "suspicious" in the description of that death. 

Now, after months of whispers and rumors, a connection between these two murders is being established. The estranged boyfriend of our neighbor girl is being investigated for both. Apparently he was already under suspicion for a series of diesel fuel thefts. I will leave the newspaper journalists and the courts to apply the "alleged" tags to this pond scum. I understand that judging this tangle of coincidence the way that I have points to me being less than patient. I would like nothing more than justice to be served. Big time. 

The creepiest part of this whole scenario is the fact that this guy's residence is just a couple blocks up the street from our house. I run past it just about every day. It makes me unhappy and uncomfortable, and I look forward to resolution to all this ugliness. That would be a great gift this holiday season.