When the secretary at work told me that her friend and her fiance are moving into the house across the street from mine, my mind kept wondering about the smirk she had on her face while telling me this. Finally she dropped the bomb.
“But they smoke weeds”, she said. She waited a few seconds to assess my reaction before adding with a multifaceted laugh: ” you know, they’re potheads” .
I shrugged. I keep to myself usually and, to the extent that I care who my neighbors are at all, I only worry about whether they’re quiet or not.
Not until they actually knocked on my door one night, dressed elegantly and smelling luscious, that is. “Here is our phone number”, they said politely, “in case we get loud tonight. We’re having a graduation party. We’re graduating from college. You’re welcome to attend too!”
Wow! That was a far cry from what I had in mind about potheads. And it wasn’t the only far cry caused by my neighbors; well my next door good catholic couple neighbors this time!
They practically live in church. I never see much of them. They leave envelopes at my door soliciting donations for one cause or another. And just to be neighborly, I usually oblige.
One time, after a hard day at work, I saw their kind of envelopes at my door, and I began calculating how much money I can spare this time.
Not so fast!
It turned out that it was a scathing note threatening me with court action if I did not remove the bags of leaves I spent the weekend raking. The bags were too much for the “goodness” of my pious neighbors, I guess.
I waved back at the cheerful face of my pothead neighbor and continued reading.
“Everything is alright neighbor?”, the pothead said smiling.
“It is just fall again and nature is showing its true color”, I said, smiling back.
I wadded the note and put it in one of the bags.
ekwaysan
A New Line 