Ghost Neighbor

I saw my neighbor last night for the first time in probably over 3 months.  We literally share a wall.  I find that odd.  Actually, the only reason I saw him is because he rang my doorbell to tell me that I left my lights on (whoops - I never went back to the car for the rest of my stuff).  I wonder where he goes?  Does he have a girlfriend?  Or another house somewhere that he escapes to during the winter?  Was he on vacation?  We both work strange hours on occasion, but 3 months is an awfully long time to go AWOL.  Has he resorted to just using his apartment as a storage facility during the winter months?  A note about this: All I really know about him is that, to the best of my knowledge, he is a limo driver and has a ton of stuff in his tiny apartment.  I have never actually set foot inside his apartment, but judging from the overflowing car, the bins on our back porch, and the sliver of his space I see when I pass by the window, I don't imagine he has much free space in there!

Do you have ghost neighbors?

I am actually smack dab in the middle of two apartments.  My other neighbor, a sweet Romanian woman, chats with me at least once a month.  It seems as though we have begun chatting more during the holiday season.  I knock on her door to invite her for tea, she texts me to ask about the heat or what I've been cooking all day.  We are kindred spirits, unlike the sweet old man with whom I share the opposite wall.  Settled into quiet apartments by ourselves where nobody will bother us if we don't invite them over, we sit at our tiny tables on the patio in the morning with a cup of tea and watch the birds at her feeders.  I'm not as much of a loner as she is, but we bond over good places to go hiking in solitude, and we exchange healthy foods.  She talks to her plants; I sing to mine.  She has a very gentle, nurturing demeanor and is quite pleasant to be around.

Still, if I couldn't hear her laughing at old films on Saturday mornings through the walls, I could probably avoid the existence of little Romanian woman next door if I wanted to.  Initially it made me uneasy that we can hear one another through the walls, but she swears that my singing doesn't bother her a bit, and I don't mind eavesdropping on her occasional loud Skype conversations in Romanian, admiring the strange yet beautiful language.  In fact, we are generally quiet and I've quite enjoyed waking up to the pleasant sound of her laughter the past few weeks; it certainly beats an annoying ringtone!


I never hear a peep from the opposite wall - I mean nothing.  Ever.  Not to be creepy or anything, but I wonder if the man next door can hear me singing and smell my cooking as well?  I am just a knock on the wall away, after all.  I probably shouldn't admit this, but I have stared at my accent wall (the bright orange one, seen above) more than once pondering what would happen if I should knock on it.  Alas, not a peep from him!  Shall I try?

My bright orange accent wall

Gah!  I chicken out every time!

Message of the day: Know your neighbors?  Oh & watch what you say; you never know who is listening!

...Or don't.  It won't change my reality.  Cheers!