Neighbors

I've been getting a lot of questions about how our neighborhood is and especially our neighbors. I thought I'd write a post to explain a little more elaborately then "Good" or "Quiet".

First off. There are apparently at least two unspoken rules for this neighborhood that Braedon and I were not informed of. Having been here for a few weeks now I think I'm starting to pick up on them.

Unspoken Rule #1: After 9:30 PM all children and mostifnotall other people will be indoors and out of site.
Unspoken Rule #2: After dark - all lights in all houses will be turned off and everyone will go to bed.

Seriously though. We went for a stroll after dark the other night and no lights were on - besides ours. Our house was standing alone, a blaring beacon of light. Also, no one else could be seen out and about as well. This isn't the first time this has happened either. On multiple occasions I've noticed that our lights are the only ones on within eye distance. And no this neighborhood isn't an old neighborhood - there are many young families and children and singles and so forth. Apparently it's just full of many young families and children and singles that either A) like to conserve energy and not use lights. B) are too poor for actual light bulbs. C) like to go to bed right after dark. D)  seriously concerned about light pollution in West Jordan. or possibly E) are part of a secret society that can see in the dark.

I like to go with E - secret societies sound a lot cooler then responsible people that go to bed at an early hour.

Which brings us to our immediate neighbors.

There are 4 townhouses to each unit. We are currently in one of the middle ones. To be more exact - when you are looking at the unit we are the 2 townhouse in from the left. I tell you this to give you a better understanding of those around us.

Let's start with those that are to the right of us. To our immediate right we have what Braedon and I have deemed 'The All American Family'. This family consists of a man and a woman living together with 2 teenage children - one boy and one girl. The man of the house is almost always quietly working on his huge truck in the driveway. They seem friendly enough and while we don't know them well enough to feel comfortable going over for dinner, I know that I can go over to borrow a cup of sugar if need be.

Moving on to the right of the 'All American Family' we have what we call 'The Frenchies'. Now we don't mean this in any derogatory or mean way - but in the fact that they literally speak French and as far as we can tell/understand come from France. Thus 'The Frenchies'. It doesn't help their cause by also having a cute little french poodle running around with them (which I find all sorts of ironic). They too seem nice enough. I suppose they could have been spouting off curses and threats rather then trying to explain they don't speak English like we supposed, but I choose to believe the best in people. :)

That leaves us with the tenants to the left of us. First let me give you a little back story. As we were starting to work on this house we noticed the first couple of days that we never saw anyone go or come from the house to our left. First we though - maybe we are just happening to miss these particular neighbors. Then as time went by we still never saw or heard anyone to our left. We then surmised - the house must be vacant. We checked the outside - bushes were slightly overgrown on the porch, lights were pitch black (and it wasn't quite full dark yet so I know it wasn't just because of Unspoken Rule #2), and all was quiet. We shrugged and dismissed the house.

Then the weirdness started to happen.

Two days later - the bushes were trimmed back. A day after that new flower pots with brightly colored flowers were now nestled neatly on the porch. The next day one light in the house was on. The next day a different light was on and some blinds that were once closed were now half way open. This kept happening while we worked on our house, but through it all we still did not see anyone or hear a sound. We even once pulled up as a pizza delivery guy was pulling away from the house - but still no glimpse of the tenant in sight.

It was at this point we starting calling this particular neighbor 'The Ninja'. (More specifically 'The Ninja that apparently likes Pizza', but we'll just stick with 'The Ninja' for short.)

The Friday before we moved I thought it would be nice to talk to 'The Ninja'  to let them know that their driveway might be blocked for an hour or so when the moving truck came the next day. I walked over to see some lights on in the house and a window open upstairs. I thought I was in luck to finally see this mysterious Ninja.

I rang the doorbell and heard faintly from the inside a 'ding-dong!'.

I waited.

I decided to try a timid knock (give me a break - have you ever knocked on a Ninja's door before? It's not to be taken lightly).

I waited some more.

I rang the doorbell, waited, knocked, waited and rang the doorbell once more.

Nothing.

Apparently the Ninja was not in.

I returned to Braedon with a shrug, thinking if the Ninja was home the next day while moving and for some reason needed to drive a car out of the driveway that we might be blocking, that at least it will be a quick and stealthy death. Ya know. Like Ninja's do.

We then of course moved in.

Fast forward to the Saturday we are out painting our bed frame. We go outside to start the painting process around 9:30 in the morning. All is normal and quiet. We say hi to All American Family Man of House as he hops in his overly compensating truck. I smile at one of the Frenchies as she walks to her car in her almost fashion designer shorts and sunglasses. It was a beautiful morning that turned into a beautiful afternoon.

And then I hear a door open... the door to the house on our left.

I stopped painting. Literally. A pretty, well dressed Asian girl comes out, say's hi (I'm hoping I said hi back - no point in being impolite to a Ninja), and get's into a car.

I run inside to where Braedon was washing a brush out and whispered excitedly, "I just said hi to The Ninja!". I recall the story to him and we both go back outside (nonchalantly of course) to see if we'll have another Ninja sighting again. A little later on with no more sights of the girl I had seen, two tall skinny Asian boys walk out and without and saying anything walk to a different car and drive away.

Where three people came from that we had never seen or heard before... I have no idea.

It was then that I noticed a sign pushed into the dirt of the now beautiful looking flowerbed that said "Party" and pointed inside.

A Ninja Party.

Braedon and I looked at each other excitedly and continued to paint our bed with secret hopes of finding out more about this house and it's tenants.

Hours later and we still saw and heard nothing. Nothing!

In retrospect I shouldn't have been so surprised - it was after all a Ninja party. But you would think that we would at least see someone come to said party.

It was after that day that we have now come to our conclusion about the house to our left. It's a sort of Magical Creature Safe House. A place where the barrier between this world and the world of everything cool and magical are so close that said magical creatures (like Ninja's) can travel back and forth between worlds.

(The Party must have been some Council Meeting - and of course we wouldn't see magical creatures if they didn't want to be seen.)

I feel that our conclusion was only backed up by the day we had a slight power surge and then saw a huge black dog run down the street straight from the house next to us. Shapeshifter anyone? I think so.

Plus this conclusion only supports my other thoughts about the neighborhood being a secret society - perhaps it's a secret society protecting all things magical?

My only question is...

When do I sign on?

All in all I figure we could have worse neighbors then a few Ninja's and the occasional shapeshifter. :)