Cruella's parting shot...

If it were against the law to be stupid, our landlord's idiot common-law-wife AKA Cruella DeVille would probably be on death row.

Yesterday Dr. Darling had the unenviable task of returning our keys, an exercise which had the potential to be a bit awkward in light of the stand she'd taken with the landlord, Cruella, the maintenance man and the new tenant during the final inspection last Friday. 

In keeping with her usual operating procedure, Leona Helmsley had consulted her lawyer, who confirmed that we were indeed within our rights to wait until Tuesday to relinquish the keys. (We take pride in the fact that we've prompted Cruella to make numerous calls to her attorney over the last few years. I suspect he's going to miss the business we've generated for him.) But, she claimed he agreed with her that the rule was ridiculous and that it was actually a good thing that Dr. Darling brought it to their attention so they could begin working to change the law immediately. Yeah, right.  Good luck with that, Dingbat.

Mary Tyler Moore in "Ordinary People"  then told the sweetest, gentlest Swede in the world that she had been cruel to the incoming tenant by forcing her to alter her moving date, evidently forgetting that the new tenant had told Dr. Darling in Cruella's presence that she was not planning to move in until May 3.

Finally, as she closed the door in Dr. Darling's face, she said (in Swedish of course), "It's wonderful to be rid of a degenerate species like you."

Now I am not familiar with the particulars of Swedish civil law, but according to several knowledgeable people in such matters, if we can show that this remark (which the ever-prepared Dr. Darling managed to catch on tape) is part of a pattern of prejudice toward gay people (and we have PLENTY of evidence that we have been treated differently than other tenants in the building, as well as neighbors willing to testify that she's called us some very offensive names in their presence), we may just have the makings of a discrimination case against Cruella.

 Perhaps her lawyer isn't going to miss us so much after all. (At least not for awhile, anyway.)

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