Nosey landlady keeps listening when I am having sex

Dear Pastor,

I am in my mid-20s, and I am a Christian. I am active in church. I teach Sunday school. Before I became a Christian, I had a boyfriend. We used to have sex regularly. Although we did not move in together, he had his little flat, and I rented a one-bedroom place. The lady who I rented it from is nosy. Every time my boyfriend came there, she knew. She used to take up my clothes off the line if I had them out and it was going to rain.

One weekend one of my sisters was staying with me, and the lady told her how sometimes when my boyfriend is having sex with me, she can hear everything, and how I talk nonsense when he is giving me what I should get.

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Pastor, this is a big woman. She even told my sister how often my boyfriend comes here, and that she should have charged me more for rent because I am not alone. I am paying this woman $15,000 for one bedroom and a bathroom and we share the kitchen. Now when my boyfriend comes and we are having sex, I have to turn the television high so that she won't hear us.

She asked me one Sunday morning while I was preparing breakfast why I had the television so high, and I told her that we did not want to disturb her rest and the bed squeaks. She told me that it was better to hear the bed than to hear the television. Since that time, we have been doing it on the floor. And to think of it, my boyfriend likes this woman. She is in her 70s. She could be my grandmother. I wouldn't trust my boyfriend with her.

My boyfriend and I don't have sex so regularly now, and we are planning to get married. She does not know of our plans. My boyfriend wants to move in when we get married, but I told him that I would prefer to move in to his place or for both of us to rent somewhere new. He is paying $12,000 for rent and I am paying $15,000, so we can afford to get a nice little place.

B.L.

Dear B.L.,

I am glad that you are planning to get married. I have to admit that your landlady is indeed nosy, but at the same time, I don't think she means you any harm. When she spoke to your sister, she was just chatting. Perhaps she thought it was something she could say that wouldn't annoy you even if your sister would repeat it.

You didn't want your sister to hear that the bed was squeaking when you and your boyfriend were having sex, and what she can hear in her side of the house. She talks too much. She has surely put you and your boyfriend on the floor.

You are so annoyed that you think after your wedding you would want to leave her house. Even if you were to go, don't rough her up. Thank her for the opportunity to live at her house although you had to pay rent. Don't be eager to spend lots of money on rent. Save as much as you can. It might be difficult for you and your boyfriend not to have sex when he visits you because you have been having sex for a long time. So, get married soon.

Pastor