the rix mix

I go out this afternoon & five tenants are hanging around on the steps out front & one of them is drunk. I know they're all harmless, they've been here for years, but if I was visiting this building for the first time they would really creep me out. Three of them are always the same guys. Occasionally, some of the elderly women sit out there for awhile. Up the street, tenants at another building put lawn chairs out on the grass, they talk on cellphones, watch their kids play, & it looks neighborly. Here, they stand around staring at everyone who walks by, one of them sits on a disgusting pillow. The landlord knows it makes the building look suspicious but there's nothing he can do about it. Sometimes I'll chat for a couple of minutes, but they have nothing to say. There's nothing to look at, I'm never bored enough to look at nothing. When I felt better, I'd either sit on Gina's backyard deck & listen to the songbirds or bring a folding chair & a newspaper to the park around the corner & peek at the attractive young mothers or watch youth league soccer match.