Old Lady

When I first checked in at the Sede Di Roma, I was given a set of keys, directions to my apartment, and a paper telling me my room number and address. On that piece of paper it said that we had apartment number 14. After an hour of trying to use a key (that looked like it might have been used to lock St. Peter to a stone in a basement) to open door number 14, I decided to knock on a neighbors door and ask for help. I went downstairs and heard the sound of a T.V. coming from apartment 9. I knocked, and knocked again. Someone from inside said "Queine?" which i presumed meant "Who is it." So, I said "Brian, Soy Americano." Nothing happened, so I went back upstairs to try the door again. Ten minutes later i decided to try my luck again. I knocked on the same door and to my surprise an elderly woman wearing a nightgown and a robe came to the door. I did my best to explain that I couldn't get into my apartment and that i needed help trying. She looked at me like I was carrying the plague and without making a sound she slowly backed up, closed the door, and locked her door (which was a thirty second ordeal as she had close to 5 different locks). After this I called the Sede and they came only to discover that my room was #15 not #14 as the sheet said. I have since seen this woman on the streets and in my building several times. I say hello to her whenever I see her, this time in Italian and I think she is beginning to realize that I may not be a carrier of a fatal disease after all.