Do something!! Do something, please!!! We have to get into the house. I know my friend needs me!! The Asian male cop and African American female cop stood in front of the house engaged in a concerned whisper. I thought, “Nice to see such diversity in the NYC police force.” 911 produced them, but all they were doing was standing and whispering in front of Trudy’s house 7003 Main Street. Finally, they told us this 911 call was not considered an emergency call and it would be handled in the order it was received. These two young cops needed their supervisor to appear before they had the authority to break into the house. Five New York Times and five Newsday newspapers lined up on the door and a full stuffed mailbox did not entitle the cops to consider this an emergency? Why didn’t Trudy take care of all this? Of course, ringing the doorbell and banging on the door didn’t bring any response. Do something, please!! Trudy needs help!!!
Trudy had called me about 10 days before to tell me she was sick, only able to drink liquids and sleeping all day. She said she must have gotten some bug, but she thought the worst was over. She called two days later to say she was running a fever. Trudy doesn’t like doctors. I planned to call her the next day to insist she see a doctor or at least let me take her to an Urgent Care or the Emergency Room, but she was no longer responding to my emails and phone calls. The next day, Ben and I drove over to her house, saw the stuffed mailbox and the accumulation of newspaper and phoned 911.
Ten men and women in blue finally responded to a call from the supervisor and broke the window on the side of the house and entered. Ben and I waited nervously outside since we were not permitted to enter. One thoughtful policewoman returned shortly and announced, “Yes, there is a woman inside. Sadly, she is on the bathroom floor. Sadly, she is dead.”
Trudy was my right hand (even my left hand too) in my role as president of the Friends of Kew Gardens Hills library. She was the secretary, took the minutes at the Board Meetings. She produced our quarterly Newsletter which was an amazing amount of work. She could not afford a computer, so she spent hours in our library putting the Newsletter together. She is not here to see her most recent efforts come to fruition. Her Kew Gardens Hills Library Friends Newsletter arrived in the mail too late for her to get her copy out of her stuffed mailbox.
Trudy had become a close friend and my husband Ben, and I enjoyed her company on a number of visits for lunch on our patio. She was a serious cook, but she never reciprocated. Instead. she gave us the “gift that keeps on giving.” Each visit, she brought a plant she started from seed. Now my windowsill has four healthy plants, basil, oregano, chives and parsley. They continue to enhance my salad, soups and stews. Trudy will no longer be with me in the library or on my patio, but the memory of her friendship and the flavor she adds to my meals are her gift that keeps on giving.
Ethyl Haber
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