Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Man Next Door. Chapter 8.

Mother: Coming here I walked down the lane, looking for any sign of the small red car that followed me up the lane last night. I think I saw it, parked in front of the flats at the bottom of the lane.

I had a scarey feeling when I saw that the man standing next to the small red car was the creepy, evil-looking young madman I had felt afraid of when I first saw him in the yard of a house near your's.

My hair stood on end as I thought about how close he had been to me in that dark lane last night.


Older Daughter:  Wow!


Mother: I memorised the car's number plates and the look of the car, but I couldn't tell what make it was.


Older Daughter: Maybe you should ring the police, in case there are other incidents involving a small red car, that the madman may be responsible for.



A WEEK LATER.
Mother (on mobile phone to daughter): I thought I should tell you that something scarey happened again tonight. As I left your place I saw someone sitting on the fence in front of the flats across the road.

There was something menacing about the figure, and as I got closer I saw that it was the young madman.
He seemed to be waiting for me. His car was parked in front of him.

When he saw that I was about to walk up the street straight ahead, instead of walking past him and up the lane, he looked very angry and agitated, and he jumped up wildly, shouting ..."Shit!"..."Shit"!..."Shit!"...
He headed in my direction, then on towards his car as I moved past, heading up the street.

I think he had been planning to have another go at running me down, or following me up the lane. Now I was afraid he might still drive after me, looking for another opportunity to run me down.

I got to the station alright, but I thought I should warn you to be extra careful, with that crazy man around, so close to your house.


Older Daughter:  Thanks for scaring me!



ANOTHER NIGHT.
Mother:  What on earth has the man next door done to his kitchen window?


Daughter:  Maybe he has installed that shelf half way up the window so he can hang that tea towel from it, to hide behind when he's at the kitchen sink.



LATER.
Daughter:  I just saw the man next door's girlfriend at his sink, and she looked across through the gap beside the tea towel, and caught my eye. Then she waved.


Mother:  How did you respond?


Daughter:  I felt embarrassed, so I moved out of sight.


Mother:  So the laughing girlfriend still visits next door. I haven't heard her laughter lately.


Daughter:  She still visits, but she doesn't laugh any more.



ANOTHER DAY.
Mother:  Did you notice all the work being done next door today? I had a good look at the man next door's girlfriend as she helped him clean up the place. I could see her thick, wavy, dark hair and the long-suffering expression on her face. She didn't seen to be having fun. When I saw her emptying the vacuum cleaner she was wearing a face mask.


Daughter: Yes, they must have done a big job. The man next door was finding a lot of rubbish to put in the trailer he has out the front. And the back of his ute is already overloaded with junk.



LATER THAT DAY.
Mother: When I walked past the house next door the front door was open and I could see young men inside, and the man next door was there, working on something. I could see that there are no floorboards in place along most of the hallway, which is now blocked by a bike, and other bulky items, so people coming into the house have to soon step sideways, into the front room.


Daughter: Now you can see the man next door through his kitchen window, cutting up food. He must be going to have a party. You have to admit, there must be something charismatic about him, the way people like to visit his house, in spite of the chaos there.


LATER.
(Loud but enjoyable music, and the sounds of people talking, indicated that the party was starting.)


(To Be Continued.)

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Man Next Door. Chapter 7.

Older Daughter (who was visiting):  The man next door is sending you "Love and Kisses".
(Looking out the window she could see a circle and a cross, painted on the lower panes of the man next door's kitchen window.)


Daughter: Oh year, I hadn't thought of that. And have you seen the man next door's ute lately?


Mother:  What about it?


Daughter:  He's written all over it in texta, and on the front corner, closest to our house, he's written my name, then xxx.



ONE EVENING
Peter:  Watch out for the people in the house along there. They look like bad types.

(Then, as he waited for a police car to drive by)
Be careful what you do. I've seen another police car too, and they must be closing off streets, and looking for someone.


ANOTHER DAY.
Mother:  (To her older daughter.)  I'm not as suspicious or paranoid as Peter, but on my way here I saw a scarey looking young man in the side yard of a house, a few doors up. There was something sinister about him. It wasn't just his dark clothes and hood, it was also the way he walked. He leaned forward, looking very tense, with an angry expression on his face. I think he must be mad, or evil, or both.


Older Daughter:  Maybe he is the mad guy Frank has seen around.


Mother:  I think you should be very careful, and make sure that you always lock your front and back doors. I'm going to go and secure the side gates right now, so he can't sneak into the back yard. When I saw him I got the distinct impression that he might murder someone. I worry about you and little Igor being alone here sometimes.



WEEKS LATER.
Mother: (on mobile phone to daughter)  After I left your place just now something scarey happened. Before I crossed the road I checked for headlights, and I let one car pass. I was about to walk up the lane across the road when suddenly I had to jump aside to avoid being hit by a car that came out of nowhere. It must have done a U turn at the lane.
Next thing there were the lights of a car coming up the lane behind me, so I moved to the right hand side to let it pass. But the car moved to the right too.
When I moved to the left, so did the car, and then it moved back to the right when I did, to keep just behind me. Then it seemed to stop.


Older Daughter:  I wonder what the car was doing. Was that all?


Mother:  No. I got scared when the car started following me again. I turned around angrily, hand raised, muttering "What are you doing?", and I could see that the small red car had stopped close behind me, with the interior lights on. I could see that the driver's door was open, but I couldn't see the driver. I thought "Maybe the driver is now coming after me on foot."


Older Daughter:  Did you eventually see the driver?


Mother:  No. I was scared, so I hurried as fast as I could to the end of the lane. When I turned to look back down I saw that the car had gone.


Older Daughter:  Are you alright now?


Mother:  Yes, just a bit shaken by it all.


Older Daughter:  You shouldn't walk up that lane after dark.


Mother:  I know. I won't do it again.


Older Daughter:  Do you think you should ring the police?


Mother:  I don't know. Not tonight. I'm going out.
(She decided not to tell Peter about the red car in case he got anxious.)


(To be continued.)

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Man Next Door. Chapter 6.

Mother: Have you noticed the big wire basket full of oranges inside the man next door's kitchen window? He brought home a bag of oranges yesterday.


Daughter:  They look lovely, don't they.


Mother:  And have you noticed all the jars and cans of food from Aldi he has just bought, and stacked with care on the bench next to the stove? Its unusual to see him stocking up with food. There are cans of tomato paste, tuna, etc. and jars of peanut butter, bolognaise sauce, and other things.


Daughter:  I think he must have bought up food because of his new girlfriend.


Mother: Yes, I was surprised to look up and see them looking my way through the window opposite our bathroom, as he showed her over the house.


Daughter: The day before she arrived he was rushing around all day cleaning and preparing his house, and after she arrived the flurry of activity has continued. I have heard a lot of her laughter as they seem to have been enjoying cleaning and organising the house together. Now they are busy in the kitchen. Look at his flamboyant gestures as he attends to the frying pan. I've noticed before that when he has visitors he likes to make a good impression in the kitchen.


Mother. What does she look like? I've only seen glimpses of her, and heard her laughter.


Daughter:  I haven't had a good look at her either, but she looks very Irish, with thick, wavy, dark hair, and there is a compact roundness about her body. The nicest thing is her laugh.


Mother:  Yes, I've heard her laughing a lot....not empty, show-off laughter, but genuine, happy, musical laughter, often while she is teasing him.


Daughter:  Alpha said that the first time he heard them making love she was teasing him and he was calling out for mercy, and he sounded as though he was about to die.


Later.
Daughter:  You know, I wonder if the man next door has found out that he is really sick, and that is why his girlfriend has started to come around visiting him. She sounds as though she is really concerned about him. And I heard him talking about multivitamins, as though he has just started to take them, and as if they are very important for his well being. He must be getting healthier.


Mother:  Maybe he is being transformed. You now hear him talking in a calm, intelligent, loving way.


Another day.
Mother:  You know, days are going by and the oranges in the fruit basket seem to have remained untouched. They're all still there. I have counted , and kept an eye on them. There are still six oranges on top, above the rim of the basket, and then one orange on top of them. I'm disappointed that he is not getting any benefit from them while they still look so fresh and full of goodness.

Instead of getting healthier he seems to be continuing to go down hill. I just saw him walking past the house, and he looked terrible, with big bags under his eyes.


Days went by.

Mother:  Yesterday I saw him coming and going out the front of his house, loading things into his ute. He was taking out mainly tools, but on one trip he had an orange and a banana in one hand, and he placed them carefully in the glove box. After I finished bringing in our bins I set out along the street and the man next door was coming out his front door again just as I walked past. I couldn't resist saying "Hello." "Are you on your way to work?"


Man Next Door: Yes. I have begun a job as a repair man for Department of Housing properties at Waterloo and Redfern.


Mother:  Do you like the job?


The Man Next Door:  Its bread and butter on the table......Its OK so far, but I wouldn't like to live there. There is so much noise, and the Department of  Housing tenants are difficult. They live crazy lives. I feel sorry for the young people, the way they live. And sometimes I see people shooting up while I work in their flat.

Sometimes its difficult to get into premises. After waiting three days for an appointment to get into one flat to start work, I was then asked to leave while they went shopping.


Mother:  I know about Department of Housing properties. I lived in one in the country for a year, and got to know a carpenter who did repairs , like you. He told me about some female tenants trying to get onto him as he worked.


The Man Next Door:  That hasn't happened to me yet. (maybe with a tone of disappointment.)


Later.
Mother: (to Daughter).  Then he looked friendlier, and I thought to myself ...."Don't look at me with those seductive blue eyes." I decided it was time to end the conversation and let him get away to work, while I continued on my walk. I don't find him attractive anyway.


Daughter: I don't know what his girlfriend sees in him.


Mother:  But he does have a nice speaking voice, and he sounds intelligent enough when he talks.


A week or so later.
Mother:  I wonder how the man next door's job is going.


Daughter:  Maybe not so well. I noticed his heavily-laden ute being towed away yesterday, and the same thing happened a week ago.

(To be continued.)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Man Next Door. Chapter 5.

Mother:  Last night I was waiting outside for Peter to come along in his car to pick me up, when the man next door came out of his house and shuffled off to the pub. He soon returned and went back into his house. Then he came out again and was off back to the pub, but he returned almost immediately, and this time, instead of going back into his house he came along to outside our house. I was waiting just inside the fence and he stood close to me on the other side of the fence. "Do you like corn chips?", he asked, as he offered me some of the contents of the open packet he was holding.

I felt uneasy about him being there, and wished he would go away, because Peter was likely to arrive at any moment, and might get suspicious if he saw the man next door talking to me.

"Corn chips are quite nice" I replied, "but I don't want to eat any now because I am expecting someone to come along to pick me up at any moment, and here he comes."


The man next door shuffled off just as Peter's car drew up. Peter didn't ask who I had been talking to so I hoped he hadn't noticed the man next door.

You know, I have an idea that the man next door took the opportunity to talk to me because he was curious about the Alcoholics Anonymous literature you put under his door last week. He may have wanted to sound me out to see if one of us was responsible for it.


Daughter: He must suspect that it was one of us. I'm afraid that he will have to hit rock bottom before he decides that he should stop drinking.


One morning a few days later.
Mother: Peter must have noticed me talking to the man next door out the front last time because the first thing he asked me last night was "do you know any of your neighbours, or people in the street very well?"...."What are your neighbours like?" So I told him briefly about the nice couple living on one side of us, and that the man living on the other side of us is a bit crazy.


Daughter: Listen to that man vomiting.


Mother: It sounds bad doesn't it.


Daughter: Alpha and I have been hearing him vomiting like that every morning for months.


Mother: Do you know where he lives? Do you think he lives in one of the apartments behind our house?


Daughter: I think so, but I'm not sure which one.


Early one morning, the following week, Mother answered a knock at the front door. She found a policeman standing there, note pad in hand.


Policeman: Did you hear any shooting last night?


Mother: Yes. I was woken by the sound of shooting close by, but when I got up and looked out the window and saw and heard nothing, and when I didn't hear any sirens, or police cars or ambulances arriving, I began to think that the noise must have been fireworks.


Policeman: We didn't come because no one rang us. Do you know what time it was when you heard the shooting.


Mother: I had been asleep, and it woke me up. I didn't check the time, but I have a feeling that it was about 1.00 am.


Later that day Mother noticed that, for the first time, all the blinds were down in the bottom floor apartment directly behind their house.


Alpha: Today there were police in the street outside the block of apartments behind our house. They were no doubt investigating the shooting last night.


Mother: I wonder who got shot?


Some days later.
Mother: Have you heard the man vomiting lately?


Daughter: No. Its strange, but we haven't heard him.


Mother: Do you think that maybe he got so sick of his life that he shot himself the other night?


Daughter: I guess that is a possibility. But how many shots did you hear?


Mother: More than one, I think...I'm not sure.


A few days later.

Son (who was visiting): I heard on the news last week that there was a drive-by shooting on The Block, close to your place.


Mother: Was anyone killed?


Son: They didn't say.


The blinds remained down in the ground floor apartment behind the house for many weeks, until new tenants moved in. The vomiting man was never heard again.