¿Y la tercera?

Sometimes I feel as if my landlady comes around just to find something to yell at me about, usually involving my inability to correctly lock the huge gate that guards our apartment.

Recently, when I was leaving in the middle of the day, she was parked right outside the door and watched me as I double locked the gate. I said hello, she she stared at me like I was an idiot and simply said, "Y la tercera?" And the third lock? So I stuck my key in and turned it once more for a good solid triply bolted lock.

Then, last evening, she was parked inside the gate talking to the young man who guards the apartment complex at night. We were helping some friends move their suitcases from their car to our house, and since she was standing right by the door with the guy who is responsible for locking up, I simply closed the gate without bothering to lock it. I figured she was about to leave. But, no; she beckoned me back.

"Do you know why you have to lock this door?" she asked.

"Ummm...yes. Because someone could get in."

"Right. So why didn't you lock it?"

"Because you were ready to leave and I figured David would lock up after me," I replied, though it probably sounded more like, "The locking might have taken place upon the departure you might have been making in the near future by the watchmen who has the name of David."

"He'll just forget," she said about poor David. And then, even more condescendingly, "Show me how you lock it."

I could hardly believe my ears. Is this third grade? I guess I do talk like a third grader around her, since she makes me so nervous. But seriously. Show her how I lock it?

Never mind the fact that in our same yard, in front of the apartments being built, anyone could hop over the fence in a matter of seconds.

Anyway, I was so mad I decided to complain for a while about the ceiling fan in our bedroom thatshe still hasn't fixed. She just told me she doesn't have time and doesn't want to buy one. At least I wasted twenty minutes of her time babbling.

So, I realized, my landlady makes me feel like a moron, and refuses to fix things: Is this just a glimpse of the life of a Latino renter in Goshen?