A very weird thing has happened. A strange old lady
has moved into my house. I have no idea who she is,
where she came from or how she got in. I certainly
did not invite her. All I know is that one day she
wasn't there, and the next day she was.
She is a clever old lady and manages to keep out of sight for the most part, but whenever I
pass a mirror, I catch a glimpse of her. And whenever I look in the mirror to check my
appearance, there she is, hogging the whole thing, completely obliterating my gorgeous
face and body. This is very rude. I have tried screaming at her, but she just screams back.
If she insists on hanging around, the least she could do is offer to pay part of the rent, but
no. Once in a while, I find a dollar bill stuck in a coat pocket, or some loose change under
a sofa cushion, but is not nearly enough to even pay part of the rent.
I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I think she is stealing money from me, I go to the
ATM and withdraw $100, and a few days later it's all gone. I certainly don't
spend money that fast, so I can only conclude the
old lady is taking it.
You'd think she would spend some of that money to buy wrinkle cream, Lord knows she
needs it. And money isn't the only thing I think she is stealing. Food seems to disappear
at an alarming rate. -- especially the good stuff like ice cream, cookies and candy. I can't
seem to keep that stuff in the house anymore. She must have a real sweet tooth, but she'd
better watch it, because she is really packing on the pounds, I suspect she realizes that and
to make herself feel better, she is tampering with my scale to make me think I am putting
on weight too.
For an old lady, she is quite childish. She likes to play nasty games, like going into my
closets when I'm not home and altering my clothes so they won't fit. And she messes
with my files and papers so I can't find anything. This is particularly annoying since I am
extremely neat and organized. She also fiddles with my VCR so it does not record what I
have carefully programmed it to do.
She has found other imaginative ways to annoy me. She gets into my mail, newspapers
and magazines before I do and blurs the print so I can't read it. And she has done
something really sinister to the volume controls on my TV, radio and telephone. Now all I
hear are mumbles and whispers.
She has done other things -- like make my stairs steeper, my vacuum cleaner heavier and
all my knobs and faucets harder to turn. She even made my bed higher so that getting into
and out is a real challenge. Lately she has been fooling with my groceries, applying glue
to the lids, making it almost impossible for me to open the jars. Is this any way to repay
my hospitality.
She has taken the fun out of shopping for clothes. When I try something on, she stands in
front of the dressing room mirror and monopolizes it. She looks totally ridiculous in some
of those outfits, plus she keeps me from seeing how great they look on me.
Just when I thought she couldn't get any meaner,
she proved me wrong. She came along when I went
to get my passport picture taken, and just
as the camera shutter clicked, she jumped in front
of me! Disaster! I have never seen such a terrible
picture. How can I go abroad now? No customs official
is ever going to believe that that wrinkled old
lady from my passport is me.
She's walking on very thin ice. If she keeps this up, I swear, I'll put her
in a home. On second thought, I shouldn't be too
hasty. First, I think I'll check with the IRS and
see if I can claim her as a dependent.
A few wrinkles add charater, written by, Rose Madeline Mula.
