The true horror stories in modern Paris part 71

A weird thing happened two weeks ago.  Mme. Landlord who had sold her apartment was seen wondering in the garbage room of the building.  Of course, I nearly screamed.  What is it with this woman and her obsession with the garbage?  I have heard that the French people are not big on cleanness, but this still felt extreme.  It gave me a shudder when she looked at me and smiled a little, as if she had run into an old friend.  This was the woman who sent an abusive slander about me to everyone in the building last month.  What did she expect from me?

I returned her greeting politely but coldly and walked past her without slowing down.  No more the usual and well-known Japanese warm smile.  I am a traditional Japanese woman who would tolerate condescension, selfishness, impoliteness, what have you, for a very long time, but once we have burnt the bridge, you do not exist to us.  I am not morally above revenge, but mere breathing of the same air with the disappointing person makes me sick that renders me incapable of revenge.  I prefer to leave it up to the God or the fate.

As I closed my door on her I sensed she was bordering on Alzheimer’s disease…and loneliness.  Now that I know Mme. Landlord is a pathological liar, all her talks about having a great relationship with her family may have been all sham.  Why else would Mme Landlord not have more important thing to do other than checking up the garbage room of the building that she no longer lived nor owned an apartment?  She would have made a mother-in-law from Hell that no wife in her right mind could tolerate her officiousness.  Looking back when I moved into this building every tenant described Mme. Landlord as a heartless witch.  If it had not been for the restaurant from Hell, I would have seen her through a lot sooner.  Her loneliness is due to her own doings thus she deserves no sympathy.  Ironically it may have been easier for her had I opted for a revenge because it would have put me in contact with Mme. Landlord.  It would have dissipated her loneliness. 

Instead, Mme. Landlord is deluded by her vain hope that she may still financially benefit from my submissiveness.  I did not opt for a revenge thus I must be still pliable, she believes.  She has even written to me that ‘she still believes that I do not mean to revel against her.’  I had a hunch that this greedy demented woman would keep showing up in the building like a wondering ghost hoping to ignite my former generosity towards her.  

She did indeed return for the second time last week, checking every nook of the building she could access.  And yes, we came across each other in front of my door.  She smiled again while I kept a stone face and ignored her again because she does not exist any more.  At my every rejection the greedy woman will feel her thirst un-quenched and burn by the amount of benefit she believes she should enjoy but have missed out.  It is the worst kind of Hell for an avaricious soul like hers and I did not lift a finger to create it.  She walked herself into it.  She may hope that I would buckle one day.  Never underestimate the resolve of the Japanese, particularly the samurai descendants, no matter how easy it was to push us around initially.

To be continued.