Monday, July 30, 2007

Bullets...

Just bullets. Not random bullets. Real ones.

In unpacking and getting set up, I've been using a plastic bin I have full of tools and nails and such. Not a toolbox, for that would be too competent for me. But a bin o' things. I haven't had to get out the bin o' things for years, now, since I was living with R for so long - and she had a real toolbox, as any butch worth her salt does, she would jokingly say (though it's just for show, really, because she's not much more competent than I).

Aaaanyway, so, I've been nosing around the bottom of my bin for various nails for hanging artwork, and I have been reminded of the unpleasant fact of bullets. Yes, there are real bullets in my bin. And they freak me out.

You see, in 2000-01, my then-girlfriend JZ and I sublet our Home City apartment to spend the year in France. We made what in retrospect was a very poor choice of subletter. A Really Weird Guy, but one who seemed harmless enough. Anyway, that was a bit of a mistake - there were a couple of rent problems and personality conflicts while we were gone. But he stayed. And JZ and I never did come back to the apartment, because we broke up.

When I moved out, and began using my bin o' things to set up my next place, I discovered that there were about a dozen real bullets in it. I was freaked.* I mentioned it to the friend I was having a sort of dalliance with at the time, because she was a brand new cop (gawd - that's another story...). She was intrigued and outraged, because apparently these were powerful bullets or something, and she began running police checks on the subletter's name. She never found anything on him.

We forgot about it all, I guess, but now I have unearthed the bin and there are the bullets. And I don't want them there!! I want them gone!! And yet I don't know what to do with them. I can't just put them in the garbage, can I? And I don't want to call the police to ask them to dispose of them - I don't want to stir up interest.** Especially not in this city.

So will these bullets just sit in the bin forever? Sigh.


* I have never been around a gun before.
** I don't know if this actually would stir up interest, but I got the sense from my cop friend's reaction that it would.

4 comments:

ajowen said...

Take them to your local Police Dept and turn them in?

Pantagruelle said...

Throw them in the trash and forget about them! There's no difference between throwing up bullets and throwing out nails or nuts and bolts or other junk pieces of metal. As long as there is no gun, they are harmless to dispose of normally. But if I were you, I wouldn't put them in the same garbage bag as any identifying info, like an old phone bill, just because of the police thing you mentioned. Otherwise, just throw them out and put that awful subletter out of your mind and enjoy your new home!

Hilaire said...

Pantagruelle, that's what I was going to do before - and I think I may actually have done so with a few of them - but I mentioned it to my friend the cop and she indicated that it was NOT something I should do, and found it rather hilarious that I was entertaining the idea, or doing it. I got the sense that it was dangerous - I guess it could be if you incinerate garbage, right? But I can't see how it could be if garbage is just sitting in a landfill. Hmmm...maybe I'll ask her again.

gwoertendyke said...

yikes, terrifying!