Curiosity

She systematically cleaned the trinket laden living room . For the last 45 years she had cleaned in the same manner.
She would intermittently park her heavy frame beside the window. Mildred was never discreet about her presence there. She would draw up the patterned net with her left rubber-gloved hand whilst her right, steadied her stature on the wall.

Mildred’s focus and attention was always drawn to number 23. She had always got good intuition, that had served her well over the years and she knew all was not well two doors down, this tree-lined avenue.

Mr Johnston was sat between Mildred and the “Wind up merchants” as he would call them. His hearing had never been good enough to hear the disturbances that Mildred claimed to hear and as far as he was concerned they never did him any harm!

The police had been called out by Mildred on numerous occasions, only to insist that she leave the “Good people” at 23 alone!

Mildred had just struggled getting her body into bed when she heard a peculiar sound. It reminded her of the time she worked in a cheese factory when the big heated blades chopped and sealed the cling wrap around the slices.

Unable to quickly identify the slow rhythmic noise, Mildred lay basking in the comfort of the cool heavy bedding encapsulating her aching, tired muscles.
She wondered whether she could get over her intrigue long enough to fall asleep.
Closing her eyes, she suddenly felt terrified that something outside was happening that she hadn’t got a clue about!.
She wrestled with thoughts of feeling comfort and imagining the effort it would take her to clamber from her divan. All too quickly…it was too much.

Mildred threw the quilt and blankets from her bulk, which infused the room with lavender as she sat bolt upright in the bed. She listened again to the chopping sound, then swung her feet down and straight into her slippers. It was on her third attempt of throwing her frame forward and up that she achieved the standing position.

Whilst making her way slowly across the room, Mildred decided that maybe she had moved too quickly and had released some gases. These same gases were now polluting her nostrils as her flatulence followed her to the window. Even with no-one present Mildred still felt a little embarrassment.

This side of the house gave her a view to the back gardens.
Raindrops kept splashing onto the pane and hampering her view. She could just make out two wirily figures of the male occupants of 23, digging a hole in their garden.

Mildred’s poor lower legs started to feel the strain of arthritis and against her will, Mildred had to plump back into bed.
Early the next morning, straight after breakfast, Mildred picked up her phones receiver. she placed one shaky finger on the circular dial and flicked it round…she did this another six times, from memory.

It was about two hours after her call that there was a knock at the door. Mildred hurried or at least attempted an impression of someone hurrying. It looked like the top half of her body was sprinting as she exaggerated her elbow swings but her legs were still trudging along at their normal pace!

“Good Morning! I’m Pc Bridges…” he motioned towards his blonde female colleague “…and this is Pc Nash.

she ushered the two uniforms into the hallway before peering round the frame to look up and down the street. The clear view without the window was too good an opportunity to miss.

“Bout time you guys got here” Mildred sniffed swinging the glass panelled door closed. ” I rang almost two hours ago…aren’t your priorities crime anymore?” she folded her arms whilst pursing her lips.
“We assure…” Started the female officer.

“Assure me only of this…young lady…are you actually old enough to be doing this job?.
How is a slight little thing like you going to tackle great big butch hardened criminals?” Her face was etched with a puzzled expression.

“Of course, it wasn’t like this in my Alfred’s day…no!” she found herself almost shouting “There were height restrictions and police were police…MEN” she faced the man “ right, assure me…Oh my god!…they sent the damn kindergarten round!” both officers found this amusing “As I was saying…something isn’t right with 23, they’re digging holes in the pouring rain in the middle of the night!…what’s with that? Don’t you think that’s just plain old suspicious? Now assure me that this will be looked into” Mildred finally paused at the end of her rant and eyed the two young officers, in turn, for longer than they felt comfortable

“Well Ms Carter…we do look into every report” PC Nash finally managed to speak.

It was half an hour after their visit and endless trips to the back window, when Mildred spotted the police being escorted by the two ‘crooks’ into their garden. She watched as PC Bridges perused the outer perimeters slowly edging closer to the hole.

Mildred stood in full view, almost excited. She stood imagining her new fame…of being on the news and winning awards as being the UK’s most vigilant neighbour. She stood watching for a couple of more minutes whilst the neighbours were chatting with the two officers.


She began to wonder at what stage the police were going to arrest the two men. But to her horror the police turned and walked back into the house. Mildred marched breathlessly to get a closer look from the spare bedroom window at the front of the house. She had to push her face flat to the window which only gave her a view of the Police car. The coolness of the glass felt uncomfortable so Mildred took further steps in opening up the window and almost hanging out. She was determined not to miss any action…which she was certain was going to take place!.

She raced down her stairs when she saw the two officers strolling back towards her home.

“Ms Carter!” PC Nash began “we have spoken with the occupants and we’re satisfied that the hole is the first steps of levelling off the ground to eventually lay a patio” she smiled sweetly at the old lady, who in PC Nash’s opinion was extremely lonely.

“Oh! Well I see they got you two out-witted” she said pouting and avoiding eye contact. “Mark my words…those two are up to something!” she said, Grabbing the offered contact card from PC Nash before shutting the door.

It was two nights later that Mildred was woken by the need to use the bathroom. Instead of passing the window Mildred had to stop and take a look. She could see the next-door-but-one had been busy. The hole was much deeper. “Patio...in deed!” she mumbled. “How is that going to be a patio?” she quizzed herself.

The next day Mildred decided that she would take a closer look herself. she flung on her blue and yellow floral head scarf and her dark brown furry boots. This was followed by her quilted grey waistcoat that was placed over her ghastly purple and orange long-sleeved, dress.

She had only been stood 5 minutes peering through the trellis-topped fence, when one of the “Crooks” entered their own garden.

“So then Mr Hopson, what you doing to the garden?” Mildred enquired.

“Oh, you are just too much of a nosy old bag” Benjamin shouted over the two fences separated by Mr Johnston’s wilderness. “Why did you call the cops?…we’re only making a pond…My mates well annoyed…I think it’s time you turned your attention elsewhere!”

This was enough evidence for Mildred. She breathlessly traipsed back inside and dialled the number from the card complete with extension number.

“Hello, PC Nash” The lady on the end answered quickly.
“hello, I’m sorry to trouble you dear, but you came to see me yesterday about my neighbours”
“Oh Ms Carter?, How are you today?” PC Nash asked politely.

“Well It’s my neighbours they say they are building a pond!…A pond!” Mildred emphasized.

“Ok” PC Nash spoke slowly with an almost telltale sigh to her tone “and this is a problem because…?”

“What do they teach you people at Police school, these days?…because…”she split the last word like it was in fact two words.
“…They told you it was going to be a patio…not a pond!” Mildred said.

“Right” Sighed the police officer. “I take it they’re not allowed to change plans?…Can I be frank with you Ms Carter?”
“…be what you like, it won’t change the fact that something is happening at 23, that needs looking into” Mildred retorted.
“I think it is time to leave your neighbours alone…I’ve been reading the file and to be quite honest I am shocked that they haven’t pressed with harassment charges”

Mildred was extremely angry after hanging up the phone and she felt wronged to be spoken to like that. Her husband had served the police force for 25 years and she had been law abiding all her life.

Later in the day she wondered if she was wrong about 23 but she felt almost certain she wasn’t.

The following evening Mildred set up a comfy chair beside the window and sat there until she fell asleep. She awoke when she started to feel a chill from where the blanket had slid to the floor. She struggled many times to retrieve it but abandoned the idea completely, when she heard a dog in the distance barking.

She just made it to the window in time to see
Mr Hopson and his very strange looking friend carry the ends of what seemed to be black polythene, the middle sagging almost touching the grass.

“Oh my word!” Gasped Mildred “A body!…I was right!” She trundled her weight to the phone and again dialled the number on the card.

“Hello! PC Nash’s desk” a man spoke.

“ could I speak urgently with PC Nash please” her voice felt uncontrollably shaky and she wished she had grabbed a glass of water en route. “You will have to ring about 8 tomorrow morning or I could take a message”

“Well is PC Bridges there? Maybe I could speak with him.”
“This is PC Bridges how can I help?”
“You came to see me a few days ago about my neighbours” explained Mildred.
“Oh, Ms Carter! I remember” PC Bridges sighed.
“You need to come and look at this…My neighbours have carried a dead body out of their house”
“You saw this body, Ms Carter?” the Policeman tried to be patient.
“Well of course not…it was wrapped in polythene, they are far from stupid you know?”
“Right your neighbours Ms Carter are doing some garden DIY” he replied in an almost monotone voice.

“Oh please don’t tell me your not coming out?”
“I will pass this to PC Nash and she will probably take a look tomorrow…right now though I suggest you get some sleep and stay away from the window…and Ms Carter?” he added but not leaving enough time for her to answer “Don’t ring the emergency number about this…Friday night is a busy night for us”

It was afternoon before the female officer knocked on Mildred’s door.
Again Mildred ushered her into the home, before taking a long look up and down the street.

“Mildred…this has to stop! Those poor men don’t need me and my colleagues following up their every move…I have just come from their home…”
“…you went alone?”
“Mildred they are very nice, Christian people, if you would only give them a chance”

“what about the body I saw?”
“Mildred that was a pond liner…have you seen how beautiful the pond looks, it’s all finished. It will sound lovely from your garden trickling away, whilst your sat out”

One thing Mildred wasn’t sure about was the Christian part of the statement, since Benjamin had called her names once or twice previously.

After the pretty officer left, Mildred ran straight to her window and tried to take a look at the finished pond. No sooner had she got her nose to the pane she heard someone tapping at the door.

She opened the door to Benjamin and his friend leaving the chain on. “What do you want?” she stammered. She backed away from the door shocked as Mr Hopson shot a bright purple laser from his eye that cut the doors chain.
Mildred stumbled back onto the staircase where she retreated behind her large forearms.

The two men seemed to be communicating with a series of clicks and Mildred knew they were not of this earth.

“Don’t harm me!…Please don’t harm me!” She whimpered.

“Look lady we just want to talk with you!…we are having trouble settling in here and we don’t want to hurt anyone…sure Mr Johnston was an accident…we were not aware that a human body couldn’t withstand that kind of temperature” The tutting sound made the whole sentence hard to understand but Mildred was getting the hang of it.

“You mean Mr Johnston is the body I saw you carrying?”

“We were not sure what to do and we are sorry you got dragged into all of this…please look into my eyes” Mildred felt at ease and responded by looking into the enormous black eyes that seemed to be rotating slightly. Mildred watched and followed the eye in an anti-clockwise direction. They spun faster and began to stream in all kind of brilliant bright shining colours. Mildred felt amazed and joyful.

She woke up from being laid on her old settee…and all at once, felt that she must have nodded of after the busy day with the wonderful people from 23. She smiled when she remembered them all drinking coffee and eating the gorgeous chocolate cake they had brought with them.

Mr Johnston had not seemed himself when Mildred saw him through the garden trellis and she couldn’t understand why all of her neighbours were now beginning to talk with a sort of clicking noise.

Life was beginning to feel good and Mildred had no need to look through her windows, favouring instead to visit her new friends.