We have a darling young couple that moved in next door. They are freshy-faced newly married and oh-so-good-looking. The guy’s father had owned the house and had been renting it out for the last few years. The Freshy-Faces decided that they wanted to move from downtown to our area and for months months there was a parade of service trucks in the driveway fixing the place up for the new tenants.
I felt like the jealous old hag next door.
Now they’re painting. I bet they’re getting the kitchen and floors redone. We’ll never be able to do that. I bet his father is footing the bill. Don’t you think, Mark? Mark? The power company was here, Mark. For hours. What do you think they were doing, Mark? I bet they’re getting their own service line so that when the power goes out they can still watch t.v. and mock us on Facebook.
And Mark said, “Stop looking out the window, Gladys Kravitz.”
Then I actually met the Freshy-Faces and I liked them so it was kind of hard to dog on them and their reno’d house. It occurred to me that the stories I made up in my head about things being so great over there might not have had much accuracy. Or any.
On Sunday Mark and I were going to go out for a walk when I noticed the Freshy-Faces in front of the house. She was walking ahead of him and neither of them looked happy. I told Mark we had to give them a head start because I didn’t want to be all up in their business if they were arguing.
And they were. Around the side of the house and back to the front of ours. They were yelling at each other and so we decided to sit tight for a few minutes until things cooled off outside.
But part of me wanted to yell out the window, “Ummm……kids, we don’t really spill out onto the street in this neighborhood with our ugly differences of opinions.” The other part wanted to say, “Ummm…….kids, can you yell a little louder so we can hear.”
Then Mr. Freshy-Face threw his hands up in the air, saying to her as he stormed off, “What’s your problem??!!!”
By afternoon they were planting flowers and being a team again.
They probably had make-up sex after that. Don’t you think, Mark? I think he seems like kind of a jerk don’t you, Mark?
And Mark said, “Let it go, Gladys.”
That night in this basement the Stale-Faces were going at it over the multitude of rags coming from the dryer that were used to soak up the latest leaky overflow.
The Speckled Trout roll or The Big Daddy fold?
There was no declared winner or loser. Nor was there hot make-up sex afterwards like in the old days.
Just two people still still trying to hash things out with a pile of rags close at hand for the next meltdown. Some folded, some rolled.
A fascinating difference of opinion and compelling arguments on both sides that any passerby would surely want to listen in on.