Daily Cascade

Neighborhood

Prompt: Neighbors
At where you live, what are your neighbors like? What do you think makes a good neighbor? Do you have any dramatic, funny, or annoying story about your neighbors that you'd like to share?

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When we moved into our house in 1992, we were almost the youngest couple on the block. Now, I think I might just be the oldest one around as all the others went to live with their children or checked into nursing homes. Quite a few moved to other states. also, and unfortunately, several people passed away, some from Covid.

At this point, I only know the neighbors to the left of the house well enough. The ones on the right, moved away about three months ago and the people who moved in are a young couple who are into jeeps and trucks. I haven't met them yet. All other neighbors are quite nice but, since they are probably much younger than me, they wave as they pass by and I wave back. So much for the street I live on.

I think a good neighbor could be someone who is friendly, offering help if needed, and checking often on the neighbors to see if anything is amiss with any one family. Also, a good neighbor is respectful, and values everyone else's privacy, and doesn't cross any lines, such as blasting music at 3 AM.

Talking about 3 AM, the people we bought the house from had moved next door to us. They sold the house to us because his wife (RIP) liked the floor plan of that house better because its living area was one open space and she used to have large parties as she was a member of several local organizations.

Her husband David (RIP) was a retired businessman who was also a World War II pilot-veteran. They both were the nicest and the most gracious people. Now, coming to my mention of "3 AM", one night at 3 AM, David came to the back porch door and was banging on it like crazy. We both woke up and rushed to see what the trouble was. He said, "There is a guy running through the backyards of the houses. Be careful, he may be a burglar." We really hadn't seen anyone or anything, simply because we were sleeping, and we were quite confident that our neighborhood was probably the safest one in town.

That night, David also went to a few houses on the street and woke people up with the same warning. Some thought he was getting soft in the head due to age, but a few days later, we found out what had really taken place.

Four houses down from us, someone's granddaughter from Atlanta was staying with them for a while. This was because her parents wanted her to be away from the bad influence(!) of a boyfriend. It seems the boyfriend drove down to see her here, that night, and she was talking to him secretly in her grandparents' back porch after midnight. When the grandparents woke up to their conversation, the young lover had high-tailed it through the backyards of the houses.

I don't know the rest of the story of the young lovers, but at least, everyone found out that David was really trying to warn everyone and there was nothing wrong with his head.

I neither have those neighbors now, nor the ones I know are close to me. Maybe it is not the neighbors or the neighborhood that changed, but what changed us may just be the times and the "smart homes" with cameras that now electronically survey the area.