The Colonnade apartment building where Sheldon moved in, made filthy, and was tied to a chair for days.
Let me tell you about Sheldon Hoag.
I met Sheldon through my friend Bernie sometime in 1972. Sheldon lived in an apartment across from Branch Brook Park in North Newark, that’s in the Forest Hills section which was the place to live, if you still lived in Newark. As a matter of fact, Forest Hills is still exclusive, most of the homes are huge mansions, slate roofs, twelve foot leaded glass windows, etc, still inhabited by rich people, and the streets are still safe, regardless of the fact that five blocks away is all ghetto.
Anyway, Sheldon lived in this one bedroom apartment and he kept it filthy. You always wanted to shower after sitting on his sofa. He had four used mattresses on his bed (one on top of the other) that he got from Goodwill. His kitchen was wall to wall filth. Overflowing garbage pail with maybe ten empty pizza boxes on the floor and zillions of burnt Jiffy Pop frying pans all over the floor. Burnt popcorn and butter all over the stove. Sheldon lived on popcorn. But he was really nice and had a terrific sense of humor. Also, the most passive person ever to walk the earth. Sheldon whispered instead of talking. He was so quiet it was creepy.
Sheldon worked odd jobs usually, and made his rent money by buying pot in New York and selling nickel bags, out of his apartment in Jersey. There were always seedy characters ringing his bell, and if he wasn’t home, they’d be sitting on the park bench across the street waiting for him.
Sheldon came from a very weathy family, but had been cast out, without any money. His father was very sick and he knew that when he passed, his mother would give him money, although not what he would have inherited had he been the proper boy his father wanted. So, from time to time my friend Bernie would lend Sheldon money, for rent, cases of popcorn, etc, with the understanding that when Sheldon’s money came in, Bernie would be handsomely repaid.
At one point, Sheldon moved to the Colonnade apartments. Tall, steamlined all glass towers that overlooked downtown Newark. He had a studio apartment there, and by this time his father was failing fast. As a sign of good faith, he gave Bernie a key. Sheldon kept this apartment as filthy as the other one.
Then, Sheldon stopped answering his phone. Days went by and Bernie couldn’t reach Sheldon, Bernie was sure Sheldon got that money and took off without repaying him, so Bernie went to the Colonnades to see if Sheldon’s filthy furniture was still there.
When he went into the apartment, he found Sheldon tied hand and foot to a chair. A hankerchief had been tied around his mouth as a gag, but Sheldon had managed to get it to slide down around his neck. There was shit and piss all over his pants. Sheldon said that two Puerto Rican guys came up to get some pot, took all his stash, took his money and tied him to this chair. When did this happen??? Three days earlier. Sheldon said he heard the phone ringing when Bernie called, but couldn’t get to it. He said he got the gag out of his mouth soon after the robbers left, but didn’t want to bother the neighbors by calling for help. I said “But Sheldon, you could have starved to death” and he said “I knew sooner or later someone would come by to check up on me”.
THEN ONE DAY, OUT OF THE BLUE, SHELDON DISAPPEARED.
I went with Bernie several times to Sheldon’s old haunts in the city, looking for him. He wasn’t there. His landlord didn’t know where he went. No one knew. He was just gone. After awhile, years past and I kind of just forgot about him.
Six years or so later, on my way home from the office, in my orange Volkswagon Superbeetle, I drove through Branch Brook Park, and there, looking ghostlike was Sheldon, standing on a stone bridge over a creek. I screeched to a halt, and Sheldon came over, he was very glad to see me. I drove him home. He was house sitting for some rich people in Forest Hills who were “summering in Europe”. He invited me in, it was a real nice house. He said the lady next door would bring him food once a day, and that was enough, but I took him out to eat anyway. I don’t remember what he said about disappearing, but I do remember he said he never got any of his father’s money. A few nights later, I brought Bernie there, and there was this strange Spanish guy there who wanted pot, even though Sheldon said he didn’t do that anymore. The guy wouldn’t leave and Sheldon begged us to take him out and drive him home. So, we did. On the way, the guy asked if I had a girlfriend and would we be interested in a threesome. Strange conversation for someone you just met.
Two days later, while at my desk at work, I got a call from Newark Detectives, Homicide Division. They told me Sheldon was murdered and my phone number was by his phone. They wanted to come to my apartment that night to talk to me. So I was shaking by the time I got home. My fingerprints would be in his house. but it turned out, that they knew that Spanish guy killed him, and since I admitted I drove him home, they wanted info on him. I wasn’t much help.
Just before they left I asked how Sheldon was killed. They said “he was stabbed, seven times, in the back as he was running, there was blood all over the house, upstairs and down”. I was horrified. A few days later I called them to see if they caught the guy, but they told me he took off for Puerto Rico. I never called back to see how it ended.
Another story he told me about himself was, when he went on a job interview on Freelan Hysen Avenue. Now if you know Freelan Hysen, you know that it’s in the most desolate area of Newark, out by Port Newark and the Airport. Miles of marshland dotted with warehouses. Lots of stray dogs and homeless lost souls. A lot of cemeteries too. My parents are buried out there.
Sheldon had a job interview one winter day at one of those warehouses and he took the bus from downtown Newark. When they got out to Freelan Hysen, the bus driver was involved in a conversation with a passenger up front. Sheldon didn’t want to interrupt the talking by pulling the buzzer cord, so he just sat on the bus until the conversation stopped. By this time he was two miles past his stop. He got out and started walking back down Freelan Hysen. There was wet snow on the ground and he had loafers on. His feet got soaked. After the first mile, he decided that he would get to the interview faster if he took a shortcut through the grass. He could see the warehouse from where he was on the street.
Like I said, this is marshland, and Sheldon didn’t realize that there’d be holes. A few times he fell into ditches up to his hips. The holes were filled with icy water. When he finally got to the job interview, he was soaked in ice water from the hips down. When he walked water came out of his shoes. The receptionist said he should reschedule his interview, but Sheldon said “Why? I’m already here” so he went into the interview dripping in his chair. I don’t really remember, but I don’t think he got the job.
