Just now I glanced out our bedroom window while cutting off the rest of my thumbnail that broke while trying to get this damn thing apart, and I saw the Two Archery Guys walking back to their house? houses? and thought it might be a good idea to post about who lives in our neighborhood while it’s still our neighborhood.
1. Mr. Santa Claus — fat guy with white beard, partial to Hawaiian shirts, who hangs out in his garage and waves glumly to our passing car. He never smiles, just waves. Been doing it for months now. At first I resisted (he must think we look like someone we know?), but after the third time I simply began to wave back.
2. The Two Archery Guys — these two carry huge suitcase-looking-things and big compound bows to the prairie behind our house and shoot arrows at things. Hopefully not the prairie dogs. They walk to and from the same cul-de-sac. Are they a couple? Or are they just two neighbor-dads who happen to share a passion for medieval bowmanship?
3. The Couple Who Never Speaks To Each Other — they’re right across the street from us, on the corner of a cul-de-sac, so we see the side of their backyard. This summer they started building what we think will eventually be a deck. At this rate it looks like they might be enjoying a margarita or two on their new deck by the end of next summer. The slowness might be due to the fact they they apparently never speak directly to one another, but we think their dog acts as interpreter.
4. Nate — every neighborhood has one obligatory kid who runs wild through the streets, right? Parents are never around? That would be Nate. One day he let himself in to our yard and claimed he had followed a frog into our yard from his and it was now sunning itself in one of our window wells. Right.
5. The Loud Family — next door to Nate, as luck would have it, is a family with four children under the age of 5. We can hear them 3 houses down at our house. Clearly they have a relaxed parenting style, because when Michael was talking snakes with the dad (we had snakes in and around our yard, scaring the bejeesus out of Nathaniel and Serena when they almost rode their bikes over it), informing him that there were snakes in the neighborhood, potentially poisonous, the dad turned to his oldest and said “You hear that? There’s snakes around here, so be careful honey” and turned back to Michael. If it were me hearing about snakes? I would have immediately ushered all children inside until said snakes were caught by an experienced snake handler and brought to justice.
6. Everyone Else — We see families hypnotized by large-screen TVs while oblivious to the panoramic nightly sunset display. Others come and go from the park, or walk their dogs regularly. One guy races his two dogs, gleefully chasing each other and prairie dogs, through the prairie behind our house. Moms cluster under the park gazebo while their children brave the summer sun and heat of the playground. New dads proudly push strollers alongside their wives, conscious of their post-baby bodies, yet determined to give their babies an airing.
Just so you know? I rather think we’re the odd ones here, what with Michael’s chanting and our Waldorf weirdness and the moonlight energy rituals we’ve done outside, and our nakedness behind open blinds, and, well, isn’t it nice to be different?
It’s our neighborhood, and we’ll miss it.
technorati tags: neighbors,eccentric
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