Monday, July 25, 2011

Neighbours


I left this bowl of Sunday strawberries outside our neighbour's door to say thank you. We share a landing, and we share a roof, and I know from experience that someone padding about on bare feet on the roof sounds like an invasion in the rooms below. So I let him know about the farming activities early in the year and asked him to tell us if they were too noisy. He said no problem. He's a nice, quiet neighbour. We've had some real doozies. Gillian from New Jersey whose dad paid her rent and a voice like a high-pitched saw meeting ground glass. The couple who slammed every door they had and did their laundry at 3am. And she yelped. High sudden yelps that made you jump out of your skin. The girl who talked and talked and talked and showed me all her tattoos. All of them. Everywhere. She rescued feral cats. The student who worked all day and studied law all night whose wife wailed,  I didn't sign up for this, you said you were going to help me dye my hair tonight! He said, in a voice breaking, I'm doing this for you. She cried a lot. Her hair was blond.

But our current neighbour is wonderful. We don't even know he is there. I'm not sure he can say the same of us. We are perfect, of course. But our cat sings.

4 comments:

  1. If I were your neighbor, one look at those strawberries would be enough for me to allow you to wear combat boots on the roof! and I'd accompany the cat.

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  2. I love the way that you write with such particularity, invoking so many of the senses. She yelped, laundry at 3am, slamming doors, dad paid rent, she was blonde, etc. Such good character sketches.

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  3. I love this!! I had so hoped I was done with the awful neighbor thing when we bought the house. Unfortunately, one set of neighbors moved out and are renting to people who don't seem to work and hang out in their back yard all day smoking, drinking, swearing and playing the hard rock station on speakers, They also have REALLY annoying dogs who lunge at the fence and bark anytime I try to be in the yard. Ugh! Thanks for letting me vent. ;-)

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