METH FRIENDLY NEIGHBOR ESTATE SALE

‘Meth friendly’ is a special kind of friendship.

It’s a friendship between neighbors when the deliveries and pickups happen between 10 pm and 4 am.

Call it a friendship of the night.

Years ago I went to a funeral for someone who’d been a user, got themselves clean, then took one last hit, the OD hit.

Some of the people who attended the funeral were in ‘the life.’ A harder looking group would be hard to find.

I listened in on some of the conversations.

More than one began with, “So this is what you look like? I’ve never seen you in daylight.”

What time was it? Meth o’clock.

 

Neighborhood Meth

S.W.A.T. teams came to the neighborhood twice since I’ve lived here.

That’s two times more than any other place I’ve lived.

They came with state, county, and city police, a troop carrier, ambulance, dogs, and guns out.

It wasn’t a drill from the flash-bang start to the prison term finish.

After the first time I had a word with the owner lady.

 

The owner of a local house with loads of traffic caught me cruising the cul-de-sac.

She parked in the middle of the road and came to my soccer mom van window for a chat.

And it was chatty, to say the least.“Hello, ma’am.”

“Well I guess you know who I am.”

“Yes I do. Glad to meet you in person.”

“Glad to meet you, too. At least we’re starting on the right foot. You may change you mind sooner than later.”

“What ever would make me…”

“Ma’am, there’s three houses on the road you live on. One of them gets a lot of traffic. Do you know which house that is?”

“Well, my kids have…”

“Ma’am, it’s your house. And I’m happy to get a chance to talk. You get a lot of traffic to your house. I’ve been around prison populations, and I’m telling you some of the traffic looks like they just came from Cell Block D.”

“Some of the kids’ friends do…”

“Ma’am, do you remember the evening nine police cars were all parked in front of my house? The Tigard Police event?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Did you notice if they had their guns out? Their long guns?”

“Yes, they did. And one of my kids’ friends had a big knife.”

“A big knife?”

“Yes. He dropped and ran out the back to the woods when the police knocked on my door.”

“He was the runner they brought the dog in for?”

“Yes, the dog.”

She cried, I stayed on topic.

Later I saw one of her boys, a fifty year old man, sitting in his pickup full of crap.

I went over with an old push mower and offered to throw it in the back as an excuse to talk to him.

I told him his mom was out here crying and he ought to help her.

He said she wasn’t his mom and he didn’t want my push mower.

I explained how to be an asset to an emotionally disturbed older lady so she wouldn’t cry on my shoulder.

He came around, then said he’d take the push mower off my hands.

“Take care of your people and we’ll see,” I explained.

 

Moving Day For Meth

I spoke to a policeman after the first raid.

It all made sense, but didn’t change things.

Same traffic, same institutionalized looking characters, but with a twist.

One night a car pulled up and dumped a body in the street outside the meth friendly house.

You don’t see that every day. I didn’t see her, but everyone else did.

They called the police. She was awake by the time they showed up.

 

Toward the end of meth friendly house era another woman became a regular sight.

She walked into the neighborhoods with her backpack loaded and left with it empty.

I saw her one time on the way out and decided to drive around to see what’s what.

I gave up after she’d walked a mile and didn’t get picked up.

She had some long distance endurance.

 

More owner and me:

 

Lady: “I’ve noticed they keep odd hours. If something’s bothering you, parked cars, or people, I’d like you to call me. Let me give you my number.”

Me: “Let’s do this instead. I’ll thank you for stopping to talk, then I’ll park my car and go on with my day. After nine police cars pull up ready for action, I’ll be low crawling on the floor. I really, really, don’t want to get shot because of something going on in your house. To be honest, I don’t want to get shot at all.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Ma’am, here’s the track we’re on together. It runs by my house. You’ve got traffic to your house that might have an authority problem, and it might get worse if they’re wasted, if they’re incoherent, if they’re belligerent, or combative. We’re going to have a shooting on this street, right where you’re parked, and I hope it’s not you or your daughter. I hope it’s not me, my wife, or mother in law.”

“That’s awful.”

“After that we’ll have a little memorial in the street. Maybe a stain that won’t wash out, a memory that keeps haunting. Can you live with that, ma’am? Is that something you want to carry with you? Because I don’t. I’ve seen enough dead people, ma’am. That’s not something I want lingering around my front yard. I don’t want to have to point out the death zone every time someone new shows up.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

Meth Friendly House Hoarding

I’ve made a commitment to do live blogging, a commitment to get out of the house and see the real world as it is, not as it looks from my garden window. (Hey Karla)

Toward that end I visited the estate sale to see what a meth friendly house is full of.

It was maxed out, it was impressive hoarding. I wore a mask for the stench, not a chemical vapor respirator for meth house review.

I had questions, since I’ve been on the other side a few times.

Where did all of this stuff come from? Was it drug trade, an exchange of kitchen ware, kid toys, and tools for the next hit?

In modest terms, it was a stunning array.

During my work as a museum collection scout I entered houses like this, just not on this scale.

This was 4000 sq. ft. of squalor and it drew the biggest crowd I’ve seen on the street.

As chance would have it, opening day was also trash day so I had three bins out curbside for the garbage truck.

Did that stem the frenzy of bargain shoppers from blocking access? From blocking my driveway?

Oh, no.

Foot traffic was steady with people in line at six in the morning. That’s dedication you can’t teach.

With treasure galore, the show will continue all weekend.

This is the end of the meth friendly house era here, but not the end of the meth era.

When will that be?