The Cold Apartment And My Years In Psychotherapy
By Gene Aronowitz
Back in 1967, my now ex-wife, Judi, our infant daughter, Lisa, and I were living on the second floor of a two-family home in the Belmont Harbor area of Chicago. The house was owned by a woman in her seventies and her son, who was a little over forty. They had a problem with their electricity, so that all of our needs could not be met, and fuses were continually blowing. The fuse box was in their part of the house, and we would always have to ask them to change the fuses, keeping them in a constant state of irritation. Also, the house was kept cold, and we would complain from time to time. They would get angry and tell us to dress more warmly. Confronting them regarding these issues became a source of serious anxiety for me. I developed what I considered a paranoid fear of retaliation. This problem consumed most of the allotted time in my psychotherapy sessions.
We eventually got kicked out of the apartment for decorating without their approval and having all the money deducted from our rent. They said they wanted their money, and we refused, so we were evicted, but very relieved to be gone. I was then attending the University of Chicago, so we moved to the south side of the city.
One day, three years later, I read that the son was charged with the fatal shooting of a 34-year-old resident of his house, who complained about the lack of heat. According to the police report, the victim had gone downstairs to argue about the heat. Our former landlord went into his bedroom, got a pistol, and shot the tenant several times.
So much for my being abnormally fearful of retaliation.
A version of this memoir is included in the book Brief Memoirs.