beware refrigerators from "the street"
Garbage collection comes on Thursdays. At my house, we always put out
our garbage the night before, usually close to midnight since we are
night owls.
This past Wednesday something unusual happened: our neighbor across the
street had a refrigerator in their driveway. On this particular night I
was already in bed and my roommates were in charge of taking out the
garbage, so I deny any responsibility for what transpired.
My roommates took the refrigerator and put it in our garage.
The question of why is a good one, and not satisfactorily answered.
When you have six young men living in one house, any extra refrigerator
space is welcome. But the real reason for pilfering the refrigerator
is, I suspect, the joy of completing a shenanigan.
As for extra needed refrigerator space, just a few days before we had
already rectified the problem by obtaining a second refrigerator.
That's right, when the mystery refrigerator was obtained it became our third,
only one of which was in use.
Of course, little thought was put into what was going to happen to the
refrigerator after it was acquired. Had they stopped to ask themselves
what a refrigerator was doing sitting in the neighbor's driveway, the
thought that it was broken and soon to be disposed of had to
occur. It's not as if people spontaneously decide to leave fully
functioning refrigerators on their driveways just to air them out.
The next day, a furniture recycling truck was observed stopping at the
house in question. The driver spent some time looking confused before
driving away. We also discovered that the refrigerator was not empty:
there were six empty orange juice cartons in the bottom.
Friday, the final contents were discovered: an envelope on the top
shelf addressed to an environmental recycling group, containing a check
presumably for disposal fees. Realizing that the refrigerator was
nonfunctional, only wasted space in our garage, and worst of would cost
money to get rid of, my roommates decided to get rid of the problem.
That's where I came into play. Friday night after the neighbors were in
bed, I helped move the refrigerator back to their driveway. We returned
it in the same condition, the same location, and with the same
contents. The pointless refrigerator acquisition is now finished.
I can't help but laugh when I think of what the neighbors will think
when they find the refrigerator again. Put it out one night, the next
morning it is gone, and two days later it suddenly came back!?!
I just hope they approach life with a sense of humor.