A STRANGE OLD LADY......

A very weird thing has happened.

A strange old lady has moved into my house.

I have no idea who she is,

where she came from, or how she got in.

I certainly didn't invite her. All I know

is that one day she wasn't there,

and the next day she was.

She's very clever. She manages to

keep out of sight for the most part;

but whenever I pass a mirror, I catch a glimpse of her there;

and when I look into a mirror directly to

check my appearance, suddenly she's hogging the whole thing,

completely obliterating my gorgeous

face and body. It's very disconcerting.

I've tried screaming at her to leave

but she just screams back at me, grimacing horribly.

If she's going to hang around, the least she could do is offer to pay the rent.

But no, Every once in a while I do find a couple of dollar bills on the kitchen counter, or some loose change on my dresser, but that certainly isn't enough. In fact, though I don't like to jump to conclusions, I think she steals money from me regularly.

I go to the ATM and withdraw a hundred dollars, and a few days

later, it's gone. I certainly don't go through it that fast, so I can only conclude that the old lady pilfers it.

You'd think she'd spend some of it on wrinkle cream.

God knows she needs it. And, the money isn't the only thing she's taking.

Food seems to disappear at an alarming rate. Expecially

the good stuff...ice cream, cookies, candy.

I just can't keep them in the house.

She really has a sweet tooth.

She should watch it; she's really putting on the pounds.

I think she realizes that,

and to make herself feel better,

I know she is tampering with

my scale so I'll think that I'm gaining weight, too.

For an old lady, she's really quite childish.

She also gets into my closets

when I'm not home and alters all my clothes.

They're getting tighter every day.

Another thing...I wish she'd

stop messing with my files

and the papers on my desk. I can't find anything

anymore. This is particularly hard to deal with

because I'm extremely neat and organized;

but she manages to jumble everything up so nothing

is where it's supposed to be.

Furthermore, when I program my VCR to tape something

important, she fiddles with it after I leave the room so it

records the wrong channel or shuts of completely.

She finds innumerable, imaginative ways to irritate me.

She gets my newpapers, magazines and mail before me and blurs all the print;

and she's done something sinister with the volume controls on my TV, radio, and phone. Now all I hear are mumbles and whispers. She's also made my stairs steeper, my vacuum cleaner heavier, all my knobs and faucets hard to

turn and my bed higher and a real challenge to climb into and out of.

Futhermore, she gets my groceries as soon as I shelve them and applies super glue to the tops of every jar and bottles so they're just about impossible to open.

Is this any way to repay my hospitality?

I don't even get any respite at night. More than once her snoring has awakened me. I don't know why she can't do something about that. It's very unattractive.

As if all this isn't bad enough, she is no longer confining her malevolence to the house. She's now found a way to sneak into my car with me and follow me wherever I go.

I see her reflection in store windows as I pass, and she's taken all the fun out of clothes shopping because her penchant for monopolizing mirrors has extended to dressing room. When I try something on, she dons an identical outfit, which looks ridiculous on her and then stands directly in front of me so I can't see how great it looks on me.

I thought she couldn't get any meaner than that, but yesterday she proved me wrong. She had the nerve to come with me when I went to have some passport pictures taken, and she actually stepped in front of the camera just as the shutter clicked....DISASTER! I have never seen such a terrible picture. How can I go abroad now? No customs official is ever going to believe that old crone scowling from my passport is me.

She's walking on very thin ice. If she keeps this up, I declare, I'll put her in a home. On second thought, I shouldn't be too hasty. First, I think I'll check with IRS and see if I can claim her as a dependent.