The Neighbors

“Mom! Mom! We’ve got new neighbors!” Jacob could barely contain his excitement. It had been so long since anything interesting happened on his street. He noticed an oversized, orange truck circle around the cul-de-sac and park across the street. He had seen this truck before when Ms. Eileen was moving to Ohio. He knew it certainty was not her moving back because she was too old to live by herself anymore. She told him that she had to live with her daughter and grandson, though she hadn’t seemed that happy about it. He continued to peer eagerly out the large, bay window in his living room. He was hoping that there was at least one child over there to play with. He had just gotten a new baseball mitt but had not had a chance to use it yet. He watch attentively as a man appeared from the driver side door. The man had a very tall, slender build with a pale complexion that created a sharp contrast again his dark hair. His hair was short, jet black and barely touched his eyebrows or ears. The white shirt he wore had long sleeves and was tucked neatly into his blue jeans. He couldn’t tell how old he was but he looked about the same age as his father. “Alright Jacob. Calm down and get out of the window.” His mom spoke with a soft but firm tone. She rarely raised her voice at him but Jacob still thought it best to listen. As he hopped off the bench, one of the beige pillows fell onto the recently vacuumed brown carpet. His mom let out a low sigh and headed over to pick up the old pillow. She never got around to getting new ones but knew that the plaid pink and beige pattern no longer matched her furniture. Nonetheless, she wanted to keep them as good a condition as any in the meantime. She placed the pillow back in its designated area and pulled back the pearl colored curtains. She moved them just enough to confirm what Jacob told her but without being seen. She saw a woman that looked to be about her age walk out of the truck with a box that seemed to be almost as big as she was. Her skin was so pale that her hand and arm looked like chalk against the side of the box. The box she carried hid her face, but she could see her long black hair blow softly in the summer air. As the wind stopped blowing, her dark hair landed flat on her yellow t-shirt that hung loosely to the top of her tan capri pants. She continued to watch her carry the large box up the steps until she finally disappeared into the house.

Jacob

“Do you see him?” Jacob waited as his mom removed her hand from the curtain and turned to speak to him. “Him? I did see a woman taking boxes into the house but I didn’t see any children.” “And the man?” Jacob knew that if his mom didn’t see the man that she may have missed a child too. “Nope. I didn’t see any man with her. He may have been in the house when I looked out there.” “Can we go over there to say hello?” His mom considered that it might be a good idea to find out who has moved into the neighborhood, but decided that there was no rush to do so. “Jacob, let’s let them settle in first. Maybe we can welcome them tomorrow after you get out of school. Have you cleaned your room?” Jacob knew his room was clean but took the question as an opportunity to spy on his new neighbors from his window. “I’ll go do it now!” He was already half way up the stairs before he finished his sentence. He slammed the door shut behind him and pulled out his binoculars from underneath his bed. He then shot over to his window onto his knees and raised the blinds up just enough to fit the wide lenses on the binoculars. He had used them to spy so many times before but never saw anything more than the occasional argument between neighbors about dog poo. As the sun set, it glared almost perfectly into the window across the street. He glared into the room waiting patiently for someone to appear. Within a few moments, the woman walked into the room holding what looked to be a ball of light. What is that? He thought. She took great care with it and had her hands cupped under it as if she were carrying a newborn baby. She walked it over to the closet, knelt down to place it on the floor and shut the closet door, engaging a small hook latch that hung from the top. The light continued to shine from under the closet door for a moment and then went off. As she walked out of the room, she stopped to turn and look out the window. She smiled and then continued out of the room. Jacob scanned the remaining windows of the house but the sun had gone down and it was too dark to make anything out. Just as he was about halt his investigation, the man walked out of the house carrying a medium sized, black duffel bag. He could tell it had something heavy in it because the middle of the bag sank as he carried it. Jacob quickly turned his attention to the bag that the man was carrying. He turned the small wheel on the head of the binoculars to zoom in. With a closer look, the bag appeared to be soaked through at the bottom with what looked to be a green substance dripping onto the sidewalk. The drips created a line leading from the house to the trash can. It pooled at the base of the trash can as the man lifted the lid. He hastily threw in the bag and replaced the lid. The tall man then looked around for a moment before heading back into the house. Strange. He thought. 

“Jacob! Time for dinner!” His mom yelled loud enough so he could hear her through his bedroom door. He set the binoculars down by the windows and made his way to the dining room for dinner. Immediately as he sat down he realized he forgot to wash his hands. He decided he wouldn’t get up since his mom probably would notice. “Go wash your hands.” Jacob ran to the kitchen sink and ran some water over his hands. He ran back to his seat without stopping to dry them. His mom walked over and put his plate down on the table in front of him. It was spaghetti and meatballs, his favorite. She walked back into the kitchen and returned with a plate for herself. She sat down at the table, ready to reap the rewards of her time spent near the hot stove. Jacob grabbed the fork and began scooping the spaghetti into his mouth. “So, what have you learned about our new neighbors?” Jacob was puzzled by her question and hesitated before responding. “Huh?” “I know what you do in your room with those binoculars your dad got you.” She looked up at him with a smile that you could only see on one corner of her mouth. Jacob decided that he might as well tell her what he had seen since there was no one else to tell about it. “Well, I saw the lady put a glowing ball into her closet and the man threw away some green slime.” Jacob regretted his decision as soon as the words left his mouth. His mom put down her fork to place her brown hair into a messy ponytail. It had been getting into her spaghetti which is not the ideal way to enjoy it. She was amused at Jacob’s “observations” and she softly chuckled. “Yeah, okay. And the next thing your going to tell me is that they’re aliens from out of space and the spaceship is parked in their garage.” Jacob thought about what she said for a moment. He hadn’t see any spaceship but he also didn’t get a good look into the garage. “They probably are! I’m telling the truth! You can see for yourself! The bag is in their trash can right now!” “Uh, I’m not going to dig through our new neighbors garbage so that when they ask what I’m doing, I can tell them I’m looking for the green slime they threw away. I think it’s time for you to finish up your dinner and head to bed.” Jacob did as he was told. He ate everything that was on his plate and took it to the kitchen sink. “Are you coming up too?” Jacob asked from the bottom of the stairs. He was hoping that he could get a story to help him fall asleep. “Yes. I will be up shortly. I just want to call Margaret first to see if she knows anything about our new neighbors. You know she is always the first to get the scoop on anything new around here.” “Okay.” Jacob trotted up the steps and into his bedroom.

Emma

Emma got up from the table to place her plate into the sink. She glanced at the teapot kitchen clock her mom got for her this past Christmas. It was 8:10pm. It was the perfect time to give Margaret a call because she would have just finished watching her favorite show, Crimes Unsolved. The dirty dishes could afford to wait a few minutes to get washed. She walked over to the silver cordless phone set in the corner of the black speckled counter top. She took the phone off the receiver and pressed redial. Margaret was the only person in the neighborhood she ever felt like talking to. She was able to get information about everyone else from Margaret and so never felt the need to get familiar with anyone else. “Hello?” Margaret answered the phone with a high pitched, nasally voice. It took a while for Emma to get used to it but she didn’t even notice it now. “Hi Margaret. It’s Emma.” “I know who it is. You’re the only one who knows exactly what time my show ends. What’s going on? What’d you do today?” Margaret was very crafty when gathering her intel. She knew how to speak to each neighbor to get as much information as possible without them even noticing. Emma preferred the direct approach. “Well, Jacob and I went to the supermarket earlier today and I did some house cleaning when we got back. Other than that, I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. And you?” Margaret was clearly not satisfied with her answer. “That’s it? Is your husband back yet? I didn’t see his car parked outside and yours must be in the garage.” Emma rolled her eyes. She knew Margaret wouldn’t be so willing to give information if she didn’t get any. “Ron’s company has him staying in Texas until tomorrow. They scheduled another last minute presentation this morning. Satisfied?” Margaret noticed the slight annoyance in Emma’s tone but was unbothered by it. If she was bothered every time someone was annoyed with her, she be bothered all year and wouldn’t get to gossip in her free time, which was practically all the time. “Yea, I’m satisfied. So why are you calling? It sure wasn’t to talk about your husband so what is it?” “Actually I was wondering if you had any information about our new neighbors. I saw a woman out there earlier when they were moving in and Jacob had seen a man, which I’m assuming is her husband. Do they have any children? Jacob is hoping to have someone to play with. You know Patty is the only other child out here and she never comes outside.” “Oh yes! Those are the Chiggs. They bought the house from Ms. Eileen. Strange, those two. Eileen said that when they came to ask her for the house, they brought cash. They didn’t want to fill out any paperwork. They also didn’t speak much and Eileen was glad when it was time for them to leave. She said it was like they were from another planet or something.” “You know, now that you mention it, Jacob told me he saw them doing some strange things during his “spy games” surveillance. He said that the lady has something glowing in her closet and the man threw away some strange substances. Could you believe that he thinks they could be aliens? Ha!” The pause on the phone made Emma slightly uncomfortable. “Margaret?” “Yea I’m here. You know, I wasn’t going to say anything but I did see something weird in their garage. I mean, they put a tarp over it before I could make it out, but it wasn’t like any car I’d ever seen before. It had this strange light glowing from it and the shape was unlike anything I’ve seen and I’ve seen a lot. I knew aliens were real! The government probably sent them here to spy on our neighborhood.” Emma was not entertained by this foolery. “Margaret, if they wanted to spy on us, why not just send undercover agent. Why aliens? And why do they look like people?” “First off, aliens are more intelligent and don’t suffer from human emotions. Plus, they can move undetected.” “Not that undetected if any old woman and a ten year old found them out within 24 hours of moving in.” Margaret could tell Emma wasn’t going to indulge any further. “Emma, I’ll call you back tomorrow when I know something else. I’m going to call Paulette.” “Alright then, good night.”

Margaret

Margaret quickly hung up with Emma and dialed Paulette’s phone number. She dialed so quickly that her fingers barely lifted from the dial pad. “Hey Paulette, got some news!” “News eh?” Paulette answered in a deep, burly voice. Margaret used to think that she was just waking up all the time but later realized she smoked cigarette like they provided oxygen. “Yes, news. You know our new neighbors, the Chiggs? I think they’re real life aliens!” Paulette pursed her lips together, unsurprised by Margarets outlandish statement. Her right eyebrow raised as she grabbed a cigarette off her nightstand. “Oh yea? Well what do they want? Did they brings us news from the Starship Enterprise? They got some new cigarettes that don’t cause cancer?” Margaret sat on her brown leather recliner. She knew Ed hated it when she talking on the phone in the bedroom. “I don’t know but I think the government stationed them here to spy on us. You know that the Robersons haven’t paid their taxes in forever and the Berladoffs are always driving around with Maine license plates.” “Well, shit, they’re in for a disappointment. Our neighbors are as boing as a plain sheet of paper. Why don’t you just go knock on the door and ask em’ what planet they’re from and what house they need info on. I’m sure you could save em’ some time and tell em’ what you know. You been watching our neighbors for as long as I been here, and that’s a long ass time.” “I just might do that.” Margaret sure didn’t appreciate Paulette’s sarcasm or the coughs in-between each smart comment for that matter. “Well you head to bed and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Don’t forget to put out that cigarette either. You almost sent the whole neighborhood on fire with your bad habit.” Margaret hung up the phone and headed to bed. She laid as quietly as possible next to Ed as to try not to wake him. He sure loved his sleep. As she pulled the cover over her legs, Ed sat up to use the bathroom. He woke her up every time she came to bed, no matter how quiet she tried to be. “Who you down there talking to now?” “I was talking to Paulette. ” Ed scoffs as he lays back in the bed. “I’m surprised she hasn’t killed herself yet with those darned cancer sticks.” Ed hated the thought of cigarettes and had no idea why Margaret even talked to Paulette. “I tried to tell her that our new neighbors might be .. aliens.” Margaret whispered the word as if it would make a difference to Ed. “You need to leave those poor people alone. The last time you started a rumor, the Johnsons sent their daughter to boarding school. They thought she was sneaking out the house to do drugs and party, the whole time it was the Roberson boy trying to get her attention at her window. That girl never left the house and never even paid that boy any mind let alone did drugs or party. She was such a good girl. No matter now. Her parents already done shipped her off.” “This time is different. They got glowing lights in their closet, slime dripping all through their yard and somethings that resembles a spaceship in their garage! How do you explain all that? Can’t be the Roberson boy this time. Hello? Quiet now, huh? See, can’t explain it can ya?” “Oh Margaret hush! Since when is a closet light a crime? And you know Eileen ain’t clean out that fridge before she moved up to live with her daughter. And you know they have electric cars now, that don’t even use gas. The last time you drove, cars were shaped like damn spaceships - just bigger and used gas. Now you just turn that light out and go to bed. And leave those poor people out of your conspiracies!” Margaret pulled the covers hard as she reached over to turn off her lamp. I still think they’re aliens she thought as she drifted to sleep.