master-ninjabear

Going back to the "black box" I believe the beginning of the end to my friendship with Cindy was Christmas, 2022. She gave me an air fryer. In the course of our relationship, on more than one occasion I told her how I hated forcing a smile and saying, "Thanks, I like it," while holding a gift I hate. One of the worst was a cheaply made plastic Bud Light mug, that played a recording of their hot ad slogan at the time, "Doo-bee-doo-bee-do, beware the penguins." I want to make this absolutely clear to anyone reading this, if you can't give good gift, don't bother. It can't be that hard to put even a little thought into picking a gift, Cindy let Derby choose gifts for me and the cat is eight for eight. No, I'm not making that up, the cat sits in her lap while she scrolls through Amazon and puts his paw to something he thinks I might like...damn I miss that little guy. What makes a bad gift worse is when you tell someone beforehand you don't want one, but they give you one

Last Friday, while enjoying the homemade tuna salad sandwich I'd made for her, Cindy told me she wanted my key to her apartment. I handed it over without hesitation, even though she owes me $5 for it. I had that key cut at Lowes, with my coin, so I could keep an eye on her cat while Cindy was in Florida, burying her mother. Now, after 17 years of friendship, she wants the key back so she can give it to her new boyfriend...uh-huh. Derby bought Cindy a second chance 7 years ago, she does not get a third, but I miss that little orange cat. It's a little weird, being completely alone for the first time in my life, so today I took a seat in the lobby just to be around other people. That's when Cindy and her new guy came to the door, saw me, turned around and left. I have to admit I was amused, especially since they could've just walked right past me without a word. Hell she could've introduced the the new Keymaster, we would've exchanged pleasantries before they left. If she