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Drama At The Neighbors
Dave Jygsaw | | | | | |
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He was drunk again, at 11:30 in the morning. I could tell from the
way that he wove to his car door that more than a few drinks had been tipped
down his throat. I watched him fumble through his pockets for his car keys.
In the process of doing this a few things fell to the grass. They may have
been coins or other shiny things. I was too far away to see from here, of
course.
The keys were retrieved from their hiding place and the car door was
opened. He slid inside, and I heard a faint thud, as if he'd whacked his
knee into the steering column. I heard long strings of curses unwinding from
the interior of the car, so I guess it was his knee. Then the car starts,
much sooner than i would have thought, given the amount of time it took to
get the key in the door. By now he should be accustomed to navigating in a
drunken state. I watch as the car weaves away down the road.
I remembered that the things had fallen from his pocket. and I
remember that I wanted to go and have a look at them. So I meander across the
lawn. Partway there I decide to go and look at some flowers that are growing
by the corner of the porch, because they are pretty, and because I want to
see if they are all the same kind of flower or not. I sit in the grass for a
while and idly poke at a flower. It sways, and I amuse myself for a few
minutes testing the elasticity of different stems. It turns out that the
flowers are two different kinds, only they have similar petals and leaves.
I hear a car approaching and realize that I am sitting in the
flowerbed and probably shouldn't be there. So I move quickly around the
corner of the house to wait things out. My instincts were correct; a car is
now turning into the driveway. It takes me a minute or two to realise that
it's not the same car as earlier. It's not a car at all, but a small van. I
duck back and rest my head on the brick of the house and think. The van's
doors open and i hear footsteps on the drive. One person. No, wait. Maybe
two. They go to the front door. I hear a muffled discussion of some kind, but
i can't understand the words. Then the door opens and whoever they are go
inside.
For some reason, I don't know why, but I want to know what they are
doing. So I try to find a window to peek in. I get lucky and am able to
observe the two men in worker's coveralls walking around the house. They open
up different doors and cabinets and peer in them. I think they are looking
for something, but no way to tell what. I wish I'd heard what they said at
the door. They don't seem to be happy.
Then things get complicated. Another car pulls into the driveway. A
man and woman get out. The woman lives here, I think. I've seen her before
from the window of my house. She looks at the van in the driveway with a good
deal of surprise. Both she and the man who came with her walk around the van
and look at it. She's wearing a dark red business suit. It matches her
lipstick and makes her hair look very blond. The man who came with her is
wearing a brown suit. He looks unconcerned.
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