62. A No-Win Situation

When I moved to Grenada, I had a lot of trouble finding off-campus housing that would permit my dog. The first house I lived in was practically alive—there were countless lizards skittering up and down the walls, roaches the size of small ponies, a particularly vengeful bat who didn’t take lightly to his eviction (he would eat passion fruits above the window at night and drop the pits on the sill, waking me up), and a poisonous centipede that decided to “show up” in my mosquito net by somehow circumventing its tightly-tucked corners to crawl right onto my leg. Nothing I tried would clear the house.

So when I heard of a two-bedroom, dog-friendly apartment near campus opening up, I jumped at the opportunity. One night, after returning from the grocery store with about $150 worth of food and settling into bed, I heard the most blood-curdling scream. Because of the apartment’s location, it echoed several times. I sat bolt upright.

Chilling moments

The screams continued. I couldn’t even describe them with accuracy, but I can say that no human would ever make such a sound unless they were being brutalized to the point of lifelessness. My blood turned to ice. Then, I realized where the screams were coming from: the owner’s unit upstairs. I couldn’t leave the apartment without descending the veritable mountain it was perched on.

Because it was so late, there was no way to do so safely. I froze. The screams continued, interrupted only by loud bangs that sounded like someone getting thrown against the wall before crumpling to the floor. Besides the fact the owner was a large man, I couldn’t go upstairs without facing his territorial dogs. Not knowing what else to do, I called campus security.

They offered to come out but didn’t know how to find me (roads in that area are often unnamed and, if they do have names, few know them). I gave him enough direction to get him to the nearby marina and I held my breath as I flickered the porch lights of my apartment. A feeling of relief swept over me as I saw him make the turn on the dirt road that would bring him to the building.

The security officer tried to get to the upstairs apartment door but he was blocked by the dogs. The woman’s screams still continued as barking dogs joined in, each echoing individually off the low mountains. Also not knowing what to do, the officer called for backup. We repeated the process of flickering the porch lights and the security officer went to speak to the authorities.

I stayed on my apartment’s level, not daring to be seen by the owner. The officers then yelled at the owner’s door but were almost—if not entirely—drowned out by barks and screams. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the screams stopped. The dogs quieted. I heard the front door upstairs open and a brief muted exchange. I saw the officer speak again with campus security, who then returned to me.

He said, “The owner said his wife just found out her mother had passed and was just upset over the news.” I asked if either of them had seen the woman. They had asked but were told, “She’s too upset to be seen right now.” Both the security officer and I knew there was something fishy going on. We had both heard the screams, the disturbing sounds from upstairs.

The fact the woman was “unavailable” sealed it. He said, in a normal tone, that the officers would stay outside to “monitor the property” for the rest of the night, then he leaned in to whisper, “Leave. He knows [it’s you]. The officers, they can do nothing.” I called a cab and told the driver to park a certain distance away from the apartment building.

The security officer and cabbie helped me quickly load up my items. I offered them whatever food was there and they split it for their families. I went to a nearby hotel until the airport opened, then caught the first flight home.

Some Childhood Memories Never Fade

4. Like Mother, Like Son