My next-door neighbor has been on a drunken binge for the past 3
days. I live in an apartment building - a smallish one, 4 units, two
upstairs, two downstairs. I'm in one of the upstairs ones, and he is
in the other. He lives with a female partner (don't know if they're
legally married) and their two cats.

They aren't sociable people, but they've always been very polite and
neighborly. In particular, the guy has shown a lot of concern about
Smudge when she's had her various escapades. Their two cats appear to
be healthy and, while a bit shy, certainly not terrorized or seeming
to be victims of abuse.

A couple of days ago, I woke up to loud banging, but by the time I'd
hauled my groggy butt out of bed, it had stopped. While I was making
breakfast, I heard more banging outside the back door - I opened it to
find my female neighbor outside trying to get in. She said, "The doofus
is drunk, and locked the screen door, and now I can't get in." That
was the first clue I had of what was to come.

Later, I was on my front balcony, painting some shelves, when I heard
the guy ranting and raving. It was coherent but still bizarre, all
about religion and politics, as far as I could tell. It didn't seem like
he was yelling at the woman. Occasionally I'd hear banging. He was clearly
in a rage. This went on for hours, and continued until late at night.

Then yesterday, same thing. I left the house in the early afternoon, and
didn't come home until late, so didn't have to deal with much of it, but
it was still going on sporadically. And I was woken up in the middle of
the night a couple of times by the banging and crashing. (Sometimes it
sounded like he was pounding something at regular intervals with his fist,
and other times, it sounded like he was throwing or knocking over heavy
objects that would crash loudly and shake the house.)

Today it's quiet. Maybe he's sobering up and has a hangover, or maybe
he went to work. She is home - I saw her earlier. (I had let Smudge out
and Smudge went over to their door - the front door was open but the
screen door was shut, so she peered in to annoy their cats. I could
hear the neighbor cat meowing, which tells me that their cats are, at
least, OK.) When my (female) neighbor saw Smudge, she came outside onto
the balcony, and we had a brief conversation. She didn't look hurt or
particularly traumatized, so at first glance, it doesn't seem as
though her partner is abusing *her*. I wanted to ask if she was OK, but
to be honest, I'm *afraid* to get involved because I live alone and I
feel vulnerable. However, I plan to talk to my other neighbors and I
will see what they think.

My kitties were unnerved by all the noise. Licky kept running under
the bed and just looking like he was about to bolt any second. Roxy
has come up to me a number of times looking for reassurance. Smudge
seems mostly unperturbed, but occasionally would get startled. She is
easily calmed by some petting and "it's OK, Smudgie." Now who is going
to calm me??

Joyce