Loquacious Loca

It is usually a bother when the doorbell rings shortly after I come home from being out at work or wherever. I came home from church this afternoon and changed clothes and went to the garden to check things as there had been a thunderstorm during church this morning. After checking the garden, I came inside to hear the Westminster chimes. The doorbell ringer was the daughter of my neighbor - 3 doors away who said her mother wanted to talk to me. This request is almost always about something I should not be involved in -personal business - and it makes me anxious. It is always a cover for Mama Loca to absent-mindedly run her mouth. Mama Loca (her real name is Doris) is 88 years old and one of the most miserable people I've ever known or seen. (loca is Spanish for crazy - daughter is 58 and crazier than Mama). The cover questsion for this visit was: did I know a way she could have her dog put down because she can't afford to go to the local animal hospital? I didn't know there was anything wrong with the dog - he's a little schnauzer-type terrier named Joey. Mama claims Joey is blind. I don't know how she would know that if the dog never goes tot he vet. Of course, I don't know any way to put a dog down other than to go to the vet unless one lives out in the country and can use a gun. So when I had no answer to the question Mama began her stories of nastiness and nonsense about each of the neighbors and each of her children. One of the things she says is that she told her son she wants $25000 from him because he and his wife both have two good jobs and plenty of money and she needs money. She tells stories of supposed conversations with nearly all the neighbors and they're all about people butting into her personal life and who is having relationships with whom (all fantasies from what I can tell) and how she is going to call the cops and have someone arrested then sue them for all they're worth. No one in the neighborhood talks to the woman because it only takes once before you realize that the woman just talks to hear herself talk, and most of her children do not visit her I would guess for the same reason, and I might guess that she has worn their patience asking for money. She had a husband when they moved to the neighborhood. He retired from the railroad and died about 3 years ago. Apparently, there was no life insurance. She gets part of his railroad pension and social security, which by all indications is barely enough to get by on. The house is dirty, she says because she can't do anything and her daughter has to spend all her time taking care of her. While she regaled me with nonsense and nastiness I was asking myself how much time constitutes my Christian duty for patience and kindness on Sunday afternoon right after church. I left wondering whether or not I should report her to social services or animal control - the dog looks OK to me, but I am reasonably certain he has not been to a vet - and I am not sure about the veracity of her claim of his condition or her inability to care for him properly. If I could believe anything she says a coures of action would be less problematic. And if I report her and someone comes to check things out, there is another danger because the woman is extremely prejudiced and openly states that she hates blacks - she uses the N word freely. (While ranting she was saying things about all the N's who live in this house or that house and according to what I know there are no persons of color in any of the houses about which she ranted. The neighborhood is becoming integrated, but with Latinos, not blacks.) In Baltimore City, the likelihood that someone investigating might be black is rather high. I think this is a case where being kind and letting her rant for some minutes might be the extent of what I can accomplish. I wonder if the dog needs attention, and above all I wonder what will happen to the daughter when Mama departs this earth. Daughter appears to have definite mental problems. Daughter has some children - I think two or three - but they don't visit either. It's all so curious and I try to avoid contact, but the doorbell summons me. Avoidance is sometimes not an option.