Forcing a grandfather to sit in a chair all night.

My next-door neighbors force their grandfather to sit in a folding chair in an empty room all night.

They are a family of 6+ people living in a two-bedroom apartment, so it’s understandable that they’d get creative with the living arrangements.

For the longest time, the family living room doubled as Abuelo’s bedroom (I know this because the front windows of my building’s apartments face out, directly toward the public walkway). Every night, anyone passing by my neighbors’ apartment could plainly see the setup: when the rest of the family retired to their bedrooms, Abuelo turned in for the night on the living room couch, watching sports or the news on TV. Presumably, when they closed the front curtains, he also went to sleep.

But a few months ago, seemingly without warning, the family cleared everything out. The living room was suddenly stark and empty, as if they were preparing to redecorate. No furniture remained other than the television. They stacked a ton of blankets and other bedroom sundries against one wall (think the kind of items stored underneath a bed) and several plastic children’s chairs against the other.

And the room stayed empty for a couple of weeks. I figured it must be temporary: maybe they were in between furniture deliveries or else taking their time to carefully plan the refreshment. Abuelo might be sleeping in one of the bedrooms or somewhere else entirely.

But then, one night, I saw it: with his sleeping couch and every other piece of furniture gone, Abuelo had taken to sitting in a single folding chair in the middle of the room. This uncomfortable seat became his easy chair, and perhaps his bed, too. He stayed there for many hours into the night. The only reason why his literal sleeping arrangement is still unknown is because the family closes the curtains after a certain hour.

This wasn’t just a one-off observation, either. To this day, months later, he still sits in that folding chair, every night. Strangely, the redecoration plans have seemingly been completely abandoned, as the room is still completely empty save for the stacks of storage on either side. This is the new normal.

Before the “redecoration,” the living room was a haven for the whole family. There was ample seating and the family computer was stationed right up against the wall (again, wide open windows facing the walkway make for unavoidable nosiness). But for months, the room has remained in this awkward state: cleared out mostly, lined with random junk, and otherwise completely unused.

I’ve documented a lot of random, strange, and inexplicable characters and behaviors over the years, but this one really is a headscratcher for the ages. Most of the plotlines on Sundries can be explained, even if I refuse to accept the explanations: people are wholly lazy, or lack interest or knowledge in a situation, or are motivated by money.

But this one defies explanation. Why would a family already short on space empty out their perfectly normal living room — leaving a member of the household without a clear and consistent place to sleep — only to then leave the living room completely empty for almost a year? Is Abuelo being cruelly and unusually punished? Even if the family absolutely needs the extra space to store plastic children’s chairs that their own kids have completely outgrown, why did they need to get rid of their entire living room suite to do it? If Abuelo has permission to use at least a couple of squares of tiles to sit and watch TV every night, why can’t he at least sit in a comfortable recliner?

I can hear the family interacting at all hours of the day and night, and I’ve gotten no indication that the family is mad at Abuelo. So, what happened? I don’t think it’s a matter of money, as the arrangement before the living room teardown was perfectly normal.

Anyway, here are a few other tidbits about this household. They are not interesting:

The dad laughs, grunts, yells things out, or otherwise vocalizes like an overager frat boy 24 hours a day. Often, he will be clapping and cheering as if he is hanging out with a rowdy group of guys, but he'll be all alone.

The family buys multiple 48-packs of plastic water bottles with every grocery trip.

A large, grey, carpet-padded, rectangular structure akin to some kind of speaker box has stood outside their front window, blocking the walkway, abandoned for several months. It doesn’t appear related to the living room renovation, but it is annoying.

When one of the children was a baby, they would cry 24 hours a day (probably in response to the father's vocalizations). I called the relevant services and they said there was nothing they could do.

***

What’s funny is that if I had started this same writing endeavor 30 years ago, I could’ve made a living as a newspaper columnist, been locally famous, and raised a family on nothing but these posts. Instead, I am lucky to have two hits a day and I can literally end this entry with “URINE, URINE, URINE!” and nobody on the planet will say anything about it. ✍︎