Welcome to the Neighborhood

When neighbors can't seem to co-exist peacefully,  tensions escalate into unspeakable atrocities. 

Written by Peter Spout
2019 All rights reserved. For personal reading and enjoyment only
Part of the World of Entopia Short Story Series

If you’re reading this, then I must be either dead or have left town, and I’m in hiding. Either way, I will journal all that takes place in my neighborhood, as things have started to get really serious and I’m not quite sure where all of this is going to go. I am also writing this in the rare case you or someone else may find me to be an innocent bystander.

My name is Paul, and I am (was?) one of ten homeowners that live on Freedom Street, in a large town with over 500,000 residents. Like many cities, we have our fair share of problems due to a constant lack of funding and a decent percentage of political corruption. Our crime rate is statistically average, but in my opinion, above where it should be.

I have a wife; whose name is Pat and a 16-year-old daughter named Mindy. We have lived in this neighborhood for over 15 years and have had very few incidents, until recently. Pat works a typical 8 – 5 job as an insurance underwriter and Mindy goes to the local high school five blocks from our home.

Pat drops her off every morning on her way to school, and I walk her home. I am a stay at home dad and run my own computer software business. I help develop software for small to medium companies to help streamline their payroll, scheduling, income and expenses and insurance. The scheduling is what many want from me because very few other vendors offer it. I make a good living and consider myself pretty good around the computer and software aspect.

Our home is in the $350,000 range, about average for our neighborhood. It’s a two story, four bedrooms, three baths with a three-car garage. We have a large backyard, as do most of the residents in our neighborhood. We take great pride in our home and like to keep it up. I spend at least two to three hours a week on the lawn and landscaping. Most everyone does, except one or two, who can care less what their place looks like.

Both of these neighbors live down toward the North end of our street and across from each other. They don’t talk to other neighbors, except for the occasional “hi” back when greeted by one of us first. With both of their homes such a mess, they don’t even talk to each other.

It always bothers me that some people can care less about their home or the neighborhood. It can bring home values down if someone is considering buying a house here because of their mess. One has six cars parked on their lawn and driveway, with I’m guessing at least two that don’t even run or have valid plates. They each have a large boat parked on the side their houses with no fence covering any part of them. Across the street from the neighbor with all the cars is the other who has used appliances and junk scattered all over their lawn.

Several other neighbors and we have complained about the mess to the city, and they have given them a couple of warnings, but nothing really happens. Either the city doesn’t follow-up, or they temporarily clean up their mess, then three weeks later, it is back where it was. For the most part, even with all their junk and disregard for keeping the neighborhood up, they haven’t been a problem for the rest of us.

The one neighbor I speak to the most is Eric. He lives to the left of us and also has a beautiful home. He works at home selling things on eBay and Amazon. His wife is a secretary for a law firm, and he doesn’t have any kids. Since we both work from home, it’s not uncommon for us to see each other in our yards working in the gardens or around the home. I love to take morning walks for exercise and to clear my head, and I’ll run into him on the way out or back. We’ve had a few cookouts in the past and exchange Christmas cards. I really haven’t made any real close friends with anyone in the neighborhood but do enjoy being friendly to everyone.

Our street has experienced a few break-ins from mostly teens skipping school, and we do have some drug activity on the next block from one of their neighbors. The police have done very little about it, and some of the neighbors have gotten really fed up.

We also get a few cars that drive pretty fast down our road, using it as a cut through to get to the main road a few blocks away. When Mindy was little, I would keep her on the driveway or sidewalk in front of our home so she wouldn’t be in the street, just in case some idiot did come barreling down and didn’t see her on her bicycle in time.

About two months ago, all that was relatively calm started to change. One of the neighbors down on the South end of our street moved up North to take a new job and decided to rent his home out since he didn’t know how long he would be gone and wanted to come back to Freedom Street someday. He had to leave in a hurry, as this opportunity was unexpectant and he hired an agency to oversee his home and keep it up and rented. Unfortunately, this agency has a bad reputation for not attending to the homes they manage like they’re supposed to. Yes, they are cheap, and most homeowners find that to be enough when looking for someone to do the job. They also felt like they could make a few extra bucks off their tenants.

The first to move in was a young family of four. They were pleasant but didn’t last. The father lost his job soon after moving in, and they had to move out. The next family to move in has two teenage sons, 16 and 17, and they are not pleasant at all. They attend the high school down the way with Mindy but skip a lot. Their parents both work and don't even know (or care) their kids are skipping school at home. They crank the stereo up so loud during the day, that I feel the bass in my own home. It was and still is a distraction to my work when they do this. They also had a dog they’d leave in their yard that barked incessantly. If he saw a leaf on a tree move, he would start barking for ten straight minutes.

Luckily, they live on the other side, at the South end of the street, so I don’t have that noise right next to me. But, as I found out a few months back, it bothered our neighbor Dennis very much.

I was taking a walk one morning and rounded the end of our street to come home past that home with the barking dog. I went past the house and saw Dennis, whom I didn’t know personally, other than he lived there for many years. He was putting his trash out by the street when I said hello.

“Hey, neighbor,” I said.

“Hi, I wish we could do something about that F**king dog! I can’t stand it anymore!” Dennis angrily replied.

“I know what you mean. I am over it myself,” I answered in a neighbor bonding way.

“I work nights, and this has been going on for over a month and a half! How the hell is someone supposed to sleep with that F**king dog and that shit music those delinquents play when they don’t go to school?!” Dennis yelled.

Dennis was obviously very upset, and after this much time, he had reached the boiling point.

“Have you tried talking with them or called the police?” I asked.

“No, I haven’t, but I’m ready too!”

“Maybe if you try talking with the parents, they can help?” I suggested.

“I really hate getting in the middle of anyone’s business. But I think I need to do something. I sleep with earplugs because of the dog, but then I can’t hear my phone if my wife calls for an emergency. The bass in that music is too much, and I can’t sleep. You would think their parents would see their grades or know about their absences with that many days out of school, wouldn’t you?” Dennis questioned.

“You would think so,” I replied. “Talk to them and see how that goes. Maybe being civil will help.”

“Yea, I need too. I think they get home from work around six or so, so maybe I’ll try and catch them in the yard when they come home.”

“Good luck to you. It would be nice not hearing the dog or the music, and I’m sure you’d appreciate the sleep,” I replied positively.

As I walked into my home, I thought about how I would feel with that going on right next to me, especially if I had to try and sleep during the day. I was hopeful he could talk with the parents and maybe get something resolved, at least for his sake.
The next day, the dog continued barking for most of the day. The second day, the music was blaring again, and the dog was barking. The third day, the dog was again barking continuously. “I guess nothing changed,” I said out loud to myself. “Maybe he didn’t talk to them yet, either.”

Four days after I talked with Dennis, I ran into him again on my way home from my walk.
“How did it go?” I asked. “Did you talk with them?”

“Oh, yes! I talked with them alright!” Dennis answered.

“What happened?”

“I approached the mom when she came home from work the same day you and I talked and explained that I work nights and if they could possibly bring the dog inside and keep the music down. I told her I would really appreciate any help they could give me.” He replied.

“What did she say?”

“She said she can’t bring the dog inside the house because he will shit all over it and tear up the furniture. As for her teen boys, she said she would have a talk with them, but admitted she and her husband were at their wits end with them.”

“So, that’s it?” I asked. “Nothing has changed, has it?”

“Not one thing! And I’ve had it!”

“What are you going to do now?” I asked Dennis.

“Not sure, but maybe I’ll try talking with the father. I hate confrontations. But I don’t know what else I can do?”

“What about the police?” I asked.

“I don’t want to involve them, but I might have to down the road. I just wish it would stop.”

I wish it would have stopped too. But, it didn’t and needless to say, things started to escalate big time from there.

Part 2.

Two days had passed since Dennis, and I talked. I was busy working on a new project for a mid-sized company when around 10:30 in the morning I heard a knock at my front door. I stood up from my computer and looked out the front living room window to see who it was. “I don’t have time for a solicitor now,” I said to myself.

It was Dennis. I opened the door and greeted him.

“Hey, Dennis, what’s going on?”

“Hi, Paul. Can we talk?” Dennis asked in a very concerned and excited tone.

“Sure, Dennis. Come on in. Can I get you some coffee?”

“No, thanks. I just need someone to talk to other than my wife, who I’m driving crazy because I get so enraged. She doesn’t understand because she’s at work all day.”

I sat across from Dennis in the living room, and I noticed he kept wiping his eyes like he was tearing up.

“What’s going on, Dennis?”

“I went to speak to the father the other day when he came home from work. He is a construction worker, you know. He is pretty burly and drives that old model, a piece of crap pick-up.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve seen him. You can hear that pick-up three blocks away,” I confirmed.

“Well, I politely walked up to him when he got out of his truck, and as soon as I got within ten feet, he said, “Don’t even bother coming over here with your bullshit! My wife already told me about you and your nonsense. I’m in no mood!”

I moved to the edge of my chair and with my eyes wide open asked, “What did you do?”

“I stopped, stood there for a moment and watched as he walked into his house. Then I turned around to go back to my house when I heard one of their teen boys say out the corner front bedroom window, ‘You better mind your F**kin business, old man! Or we’ll f**k you up!!’”

I jumped up from my chair and yelled, “Holy crap!! Oh, man! I can’t believe that!” What did you do or say!?”

“I just walked home, shaking. I went into my house and sat down on the couch. My daughter, Shelly, came out of her room and asked me what the problem was. I told her what happened, and she said, ‘I’m not surprised, Dad. Those kids are bad news. They are always getting in fights at school.’”

“I asked her, ‘Why haven’t they been kicked out yet?’”

Shelly answered her dad, “Because the school doesn’t want the negative publicity of suspending kids. They prefer to have in-school suspensions, where the records are kept differently. Those kids are always bullying other kids. Ask Mindy, she’ll tell you.”

“Did anything else happen since then? What are you going to do?” I asked Dennis.

“Well, the dog is still barking, and now every time the kids get home from school, around 2:15 pm, they turn the stereo up even louder. Yesterday, I found all kinds of trash in my yard. As if they dumped a trash cans worth over my fence.”

“Did you tell your wife or call the police?” I asked.

“I talked with Lucy, and she tells me to call the police. But if I do that and they see the police car in front of my house, then things could get worse.”

“What if you went down there and talked to them?” I asked.

“The police station?”

“Yes, go down there and try talking with someone in person.”

“I guess I could try that. At least see what my options may be. You know Paul, I just wish they wouldn’t have moved in. I mean, they are just renting. They don’t really care about this neighborhood. They figure they could just move somewhere else if they piss everyone on the block off. I wished we didn’t allow it.”

“I agree. You would have to be in a deed restricted neighborhood for that to be forbidden. Then they’ll charge you HOA fee’s and be all over you about what color paint you can paint your house with and how to manage your landscaping,” I replied.

“I know. Being in a deed restricted area does have its drawbacks. But I bet they wouldn’t put up with this crap. Too bad we couldn’t start something up on our own,” Dennis half questioned.

“I agree. Let me know what the police say. Here is my cell number.”

“Thanks, Paul. I know you’re busy, but I appreciate you listening to me. I’ll let you get back to work.”

“I’m glad I could at least listen, Dennis. Hopefully, you, and we, can get this resolved soon.”

The next morning, I went out for a walk, As I headed back and got within four blocks from our street, I could start to hear music playing. The closer I got to our neighborhood, the louder it was. When I turned onto our block, I could tell the renters kids were home and had the stereo blasting and kids were over partying and yelling. As I passed by Dennis’s home, he opened the front door and called out to me.

“Hey, Paul! Can you please come in for a minute?”

Oh, I didn’t want this to happen. Not in a million years did I want to really get involved in this. I honestly felt like it was Dennis’s problem and didn’t want to be involved. But now, I also knew it was my neighborhood too and what if this was happening to me next door?

I started walking up to his front door and had the feeling someone from the renters' house may be watching me do it.

“What a bunch of noise,” I said as I walked up to him.

“Come in, Paul. I want you to hear this.”

I followed him into the back bedroom directly next to the renters' side. Dennis looked bad. He had large bags under his eyes. You could tell he hadn’t been sleeping much at all. His hair was all oily and uncombed, he hadn’t shaved in at least three days, and was starting to smell like he hadn’t showered in a while either.

“Come into my bedroom and feel the wall. You can feel it vibrate. Feel that!”

I put my hand against the wall and indeed felt the frame house wall vibrate with the bass of their music. His room was darkened, and he had his pillows on the floor as if he threw them there.

“I can’t f**king take this anymore, Paul!” He started to really get worked up and started to breakdown and cry. “I’m fed up! Why won’t they stop! I can’t sleep! I haven’t slept well in months!”

“Dennis, what did the police say when you talked with them?”

“They said to start a Neighborhood Watch and to call them if there are any problems. They said the officer would have to witness what was going on before they could do anything.”

“Well, Dennis, I say call the freaking cops and let them deal with this bull crap! This has to stop!”

“All right! I agree. I’m calling now.”

Dennis called 911 and was put through to the city police dispatch. He explained what was going on and they said they would send an officer over soon. For what seemed like forever, I sat on his couch, anxious of what was now for sure going to pull me into this. Once the police show up, they will know who called them, and then they’ll see me too.

I really felt bad for Dennis, as he kept pacing around waiting for the police to show. The music started to stop and then play again as if the renters were sensing something was happening.

Forty-five minutes after Dennis called, we saw a cop car pull up to their house. But then, the music went off. They knew the cops were there. Dennis went to his back-sliding glass door and went outside. He came back in a few minutes later and told me he heard the other kids running out their back door and into the alley.

A few minutes later, we heard a knock at the door. “What the hell are they doing coming here?!” Dennis yelled.

He opened the door, and it was one of the cops. There were now two cop cars out front.

“Sir, did you make the noise complaint?” The officer asked.

“Yes, but I asked that they not send the cop up to my front door. I am having problems with them as it is. Now, they’ll know who called,” Dennis said to the cop.

“Well sir, we can only do something if we hear it. When we pulled up, we didn’t hear any loud music playing. However, they said you have been harassing them. That’s why I’m here.”

“Wait! You’re telling me that I have been harassing them?”

“Yes, sir. They said you have been complaining about their dog and music unnecessarily.”

I couldn’t help hearing any more without saying something. “Officer, I live across the street, a few houses down and I can tell you 100% that that is not true. I have seen and heard what has been going on here for months. Just a few minutes ago, they had what seemed like ten kids in there, all skipping school. They ran out the back and shut the music down when you all pulled up. This man works nights, and they have a dog that continues to bark incessantly!”

The officer took down the information, including my name and address. Then the other officer came up to the door and told the one talking with us that everything seemed fine.

“Fine?! What do you mean fine!?” Dennis abruptly asked.

“Meaning we can’t do anything because we didn’t witness anything. But we have your complaint, and we can swing by a little more often to see if we can hear the dog or music. In the meantime, call us again if you need us,” the first officer replied.

“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all you can do? What about the fact that they’re skipping school?”

“Well, they are both at the age where they don’t have to go if they don’t want,” The second officer answered.

“So, they can stay home all they want?” Dennis asked.

“Yes. Obviously, they could fail their classes, but they don’t have to go.”

“Wow! I can’t believe that. Imagine if they don’t go at all?” I said out loud.

Both officers then left, and I sat down across from Dennis. I could tell he was about to lose it again.

He lowered his head down and covered his face with his hands. He stayed that way for about two minutes. Then he looked up and said, “I don’t know what more I can do, Paul? I’ve tried talking with them like you suggested. I called the cops as you suggested. Now what? What do you suggest I do now?”

“Tell me what they said about this Neighborhood Watch, they suggested to you,” I asked him.

“It’s a program the police department sets up in neighborhoods to help neighbors keep an eye out for each other. They usually meet once a month and often have someone from the department there to represent and answer any questions or address any concerns the neighbors may have.”

I enthusiastically said, “I think we should do that, Dennis! We need all the help we can get!”

“Paul, I’ll try anything at this point!”

I was glad Dennis agreed, and I told him I would help. He said he would call the police department and get things set up. I then got up and told him I needed to get back to work. He thanked me for everything and said he would let me know what he finds out.

I walked out the front door and headed for my house when I heard someone yell out from the renters' window, “Snitch!”

Part 3.

A couple of days passed with the same barking dog and afternoon music blasting. I have had several talks with my wife, Pat, and daughter, Mindy, over what’s been going on. I walk Mindy home from school, and I often worry if we’ll run into those two boys. Mindy says they are real problems at school and fail all their classes.

“Do they do drugs?” I asked her on the way home today.

“They smoke pot and drink. I know some of their friends sell drugs, but I’m not sure if they do. They are always in trouble at school and are disruptive to the class and disrespectful to the teachers.”

“I don’t understand why their father doesn’t beat their butts?” I questioned.

“Because their father is a drunk and messes around on his wife. He feels he works hard all day and deserves whatever he wants. Their mother doesn’t care what they do, because she is too busy doing what she wants to do.”

“Basically, the kids do whatever they want with no consequences. It’s like they never wanted them to begin with. I believe one of them or maybe both have been to juvenile detention several times and the father has been in jail multiple times for assault and battery and other crimes,” she said.

“How do you know all of this, Mindy?”

“They brag about it in school. They use it as a scare tactic, like ‘My dad’s been to jail or I’ve been to jail, so I don’t give a s**t.’”

“Wow! Real scum,” I said.

I received a call from Dennis the next morning telling me he had a date set up for the Neighborhood Watch. It would be in two days, that Saturday, He said an officer would be there as well. He asked If I could create a flyer and help pass it around the neighborhood. I told him I was more than happy to help.

Later that day, he came over and knocked at my door. I could tell by his demeanor from the living room window he was tired and just beat up. As soon as I answered the door, he lit up emotionally, as if he was so glad to have me on his side.

“I’m really thankful for you helping me, Paul. Right now, It seems I don’t have anyone on my side, especially during the day,” he said to me as he walked in.

“Dennis, I am your neighbor, and we need to work together to get this resolved. Have you slept much lately?”

“Very little. I go and sleep in Shelly’s room for the morning and early afternoon until she gets home from school. I feel bad because I don’t think many 15-year old’s want their dad sleeping in their bed.”

“Dennis, you shouldn’t worry about that. I’m sure she understands, and hopefully, this will be temporary.”

I showed Dennis the flyer, and he was happy with it. “Let’s get these out there and see what we can drum up for support,” He said.

We went from home to home, within a three-block radius and folded and tucked the flyer into their door if they weren’t home. For those that were, we introduced ourselves and said we lived on Freedom Street. We didn’t mention all the problems, because we didn’t want to have to explain everything that was going on. We just told them we wanted to build a Neighborhood Watch, meet our neighbors, and address any concerns they may have.

Most were happy we were doing something and seemed interested, so we felt like a lot of people would show up.

Saturday morning, I arrived at the recreation center with doughnuts and coffee around 9:45 am. Dennis was at the door waiting to get in and was obviously anxious.

“I hope we get a good turnout, Paul.”

“Me too, Dennis.”

A few minutes before 10 am, the announced time, we were still the only two people there. Then, an officer showed up with his patrol car. He walked up to us and introduced himself.

“Good morning gentleman, my name is Officer Bailey. How are you today?”

“We’re good, thanks for asking,” I responded. “I’m Paul, and this is Dennis.”

“Oh, yes, we spoke on the phone. It’s nice to meet you,” Officer Bailey said to Dennis.

He then unlocked the door and turned on the lights.

“I sure wish more people were here for this,” I said out loud as we were setting up the chairs in a circle. Hopefully, some others will show up.”

“I’ve learned that many people don’t want to bother; either because they don’t think there is any crime, want to stay to themselves, or are afraid of what someone might say to them if they found out.”

“You mean, they might feel someone may think they’re a snitch?” I questioned.

“Right. But these meetings can be very beneficial. They can bring neighbors together and build a support system with the police,” Officer Bailey replied.

We sat there for a few minutes after 10, and then two other people walked in. One was my neighbor Eric, who I was happy to see, and the other was Hal, the neighbor who lives on the other side of Dennis.

“Hey, neighbors! It’s really nice to see you!” I excitedly said to Eric.

“Hey, Paul. Sorry, we’re late. We went to the wrong rec. center, even though you have the address on the flyer. For some reason, I had the other in my head,” Hal said.

“No problem, we’re just glad you’re here!” Dennis said excitedly.

Eric works at home too, but for some reason, Dennis and I hadn’t involved him. I’m not sure why. He must hear the music and barking dog as well. I don’t think Hal and Dennis know each other well, as Hal works long days.

We started with the four of us neighbors and Officer Bailey. We talked about the situation, and Hal said he didn’t know any of this was happening.

“Holy crap, man! You’re telling me this has been going on for over three months and nothing has been done?!”

He was angry. I didn’t know Hal much at all, other than knowing he had lived there for some time. He did work a lot but kept to himself when he was home.

“I’ve been trying to deal with them as best I could, without causing trouble. But it hasn’t worked so far,” Dennis told Hal.

“You are much nicer than me, I can tell you that,” Hal said to Dennis.

I looked at Officer Bailey and asked him what more could be done.

“Unfortunately, you have to call us each time. If we come out and observe the barking dog over a period of time or the loud music, we can give them warnings, cite them, and then start to consider them a nuisance. But it can take time,” He explained.

“What kind of time are we talking about?” Asked Hal.

“I mean, it would have to go to the City and be reviewed by the attorney and then real action could take time to work its way through the courts. Honestly, it could take months or longer.”

“Oh, God! I can’t take that!” Dennis said. Can’t you give them a citation when you observe this behavior?”

“Sure, we can. But it’s my experience that they simply won’t pay it. We can keep giving them citations, but they may not pay them. We can even put a lien on their home, but their only renting, so they don’t probably care.

“So, we just have to keep calling and wait for the system to eventually take its course?” I asked.

“Have you thought about calling the owner of the house and telling him what’s going on?” Officer Bailey suggested.

“We don’t have his contact information. We weren’t that close to him before he moved,” I answered.

“Maybe that’s something our department can look into once we start getting a good look at what’s happening here. But even for the owner, it’s not easy to even evict anyone. It can take time and money. The courts are lenient toward tenants,” He explained.

Hal became even more upset, and Dennis just started to look defeated. He just bowed his head and started shaking it in disbelief.

Dennis looked up and at me and said in an almost defeated voice, “I can’t take this much more, Paul. I am at my wit's end.”

We could all tell Hal was visibly upset, but he didn’t want to say much in front of the officer. He didn’t know either of us well but seemed the kind of person who didn’t like when others were taken advantage of.

Eric didn’t say much at all in the meeting. He just listened.

We wrapped up with no resolution, but at least we knew where we stood. We all walked outside and stood by our cars and waited for Officer Bailey to lock-up. He came over and thanked us for getting together.

“I know it’s very frustrating. But let’s go through the process and let us try to help. Here is my card, call me when you want to schedule another meeting and if you have any questions.”

I took the card, and he went to his car and drove off. As soon as he pulled out of the parking lot, Hal said,” This is bullshit, and we shouldn’t put up with it!”

Then Eric, who didn’t say anything in the meeting, replied, “I agree!”

It was exactly at this point that we knew the four of us had to do something to help out Dennis, who was literally coming apart. This was our neighborhood, and if the police and city couldn’t do much, then we needed to take things into our own hands.

It was also at this point that I knew I would be going down a path I’ve never traveled before and wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to go down. But, I was going anyways.

Part 4.

We decided to set-up a meeting that was private and away from earshot, at Hal’s place that evening. It would be just the four of us for now.

I went home and filled in Pat. She was concerned that I would be getting into a vigilante type situation.

“Paul, I’m not really comfortable with you getting involved like this. We don’t know Dennis or Hal, other than knowing they’re neighbors. This could get ugly and cause real problems,” my wife, Pam said.

“I know you’re concerned. I am too. But imagine, just for a minute this was happening to us? What if I was working nights and these neighbors, who can care less about anyone, kept me from sleeping?”

“But they’re not our neighbors and I don’t want to see you get in trouble for someone we aren’t even friends with.”

I assured her I would be cautious and keep my distance. I understood what she was saying, and I didn’t want to see our family endure something they shouldn’t have too.

Later that evening, I showed up at Hal’s place around 8 p.m. He invited me in and offered me a seat in the living room. Dennis was already there. Eric showed up 30 seconds after me.

Hal broke out the beers and we all sat in his living room and began the small talk. We each talked about our jobs and families. When we got into our second beer, Hal changed the conversation abruptly, by saying, “Now what are we going to do about our neighborhood problem?”

It got quiet, quickly. We all knew this was going to be the beginning of a serious, yet necessary, process.

“Dennis, I could easily say this isn’t my problem and tell you to call the police and wish you the best. In fact, I didn’t even know there was a problem until this morning when you guys told me about all the shit going on next door. But I care about my neighbors and after hearing what the cop said this morning, I know we need to take action or you will snap and probably hang yourself or kill them,” Hal said.

‘Hal, I appreciate your offer to help, but I don’t want to do anything too drastic, as to cause them any harm,” Dennis replied.

“I understand. But what do you plan on doing then? Are you going to bake them some cupcakes and hope that solves the problem?”

I could feel the tension start to get thick in the room. I could also see Dennis start to squirm in his seat and feel slightly uncomfortable by Hal’s suggestion that more needs to be done.

I knew deep down Dennis would prefer that the renters would just stop with the loud music and barking dog, without him or us having to do anything more. But that didn’t seem to be a plausible solution.

Then I spoke up, “Hal, what do you propose we do?”

“I have a few ideas, but I’m not sure Dennis would be comfortable with them,” he replied.

“To be honest, Hal, I’m not sure I would be either. It depends on what they are”, I said.

“Well, we can kill the dog, to start with. That would solve the barking problem. And if the kids start to get nasty, we can deal with them too if need be,” Dennis said in a serious and sinister way.

I straightened up and then scooted to the edge of the recliner. “Holy crap, Hal! That’s a bit drastic, don’t you think?” I asked.

“I agree. That may be going over the line,” added Dennis.

Then Hal replied, “What do you guys think should be done. I mean, I don’t want to kill a dog either. But do you think the neighbors care about the dog? If they did, maybe they’d have it indoors when it rains or gets cold.”

“I think if we do something like that, it could make things worse. They already know Dennis has complained about the dog and noise. They would suspect it was him immediately,” I said.

Surprisingly, as we talked for a bit more, Eric didn’t say a word. He just sat there and listened, drinking his beer. Dennis spoke little because he didn’t want to see anything happen to his wife and daughter, as did I.

“Look, I work long hours, five days a week. I live by myself, not because I want to, but that’s the way it is. I’ve lived here for six years and this is the first beer we have all shared. I’m just trying to help,” Hal said to all of us as he passed around more for us to drink.

We soon changed the subject and started talking about boyhood stories. By now, it was 10 p.m. and we all had a good beer buzz going. We listened to each of us tell a story or reminisce about something they did.

“Surprisingly, none of us ever went to jail,” Eric said jokingly.

“You’re right, Eric. I guess we were lucky,” I replied.

None of it was serious. Mostly mischief as kid stuff. We all had good families and good upbringings.

The four of us bonded that night. Not just as neighbors, but as friends. I’ve never had a so-called “buddy” in the neighborhood that I could hang out with. It was nice to just walk across the street to go home and not have to worry about driving.

Dennis had decided he wanted to try the police again before we resorted to any other measures, especially ones Hal was now suggesting.

As I walked to my home, I could hear the truck the father of the renters drove coming from three blocks away. As I approached my front door, his truck came racing down the street, far exceeding a safe speed.

I stood in front of my door and waited for him to exit his truck before going in. He slammed his truck door and went inside, slamming the front door. Then, I could hear what sounded like him yelling. I just shook my head and unlocked my door and went inside.

Once in, I ran into Pat, who could tell I was drinking.

“I see you had a few beers with the boys,” she commented.

“Yeah, I had a few.”

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Actually, I did. It was nice to hang out with a few of the neighbors and get to know each other.” (Most guys don’t like to admit how much they enjoy hanging out with another guy because they don’t want to appear gay or “less than” the other).

“Well, I’m glad you had a nice time. Just don’t make the drinking a habit,” she cautioned me.

The next morning, as soon as I started working, around 9 a.m., the music started. I could hear the bass thumping. I could also hear the dog barking, continuously.

I thought, “well, l guess Dennis will be trying out the police today, and we’ll see how that goes.”

About two hours went by, then I noticed the music had stopped. I got up from my desk and looked out the living room window toward the renters' house. Sure enough, there was a cop car in front of it. The dog was still barking.

The cops left a few minutes later, but the dog continued to bark.

The next morning, around the same time, I was just getting back from a morning walk and noticed Dennis on the side of his home. I walked up to see what was going on.

As I approached him, I could see what looked like spray paint on the side of his home.

“Morning, Dennis. What’s going on?”

“Somebody decided to spray paint this profanity on my side wall here sometime last night.”

It spelled out the word “d**k”, and it was pretty large.

Dennis was trying to wash it off, but it didn’t look like it was working.

“I noticed this when I came home this morning and went to put out my trash. Apparently, they didn’t like the fact that I called the police on them yesterday.”

“Are you going to call them again?” I asked.

“I’m not sure I should. I mean, this is just going to keep going on.”

“I would. I would keep calling and keep having them file reports and document everything, Dennis.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

After a few more minutes of him trying to wash the spray paint off, he said he would call.

“You want me to stick around and wait for them?”

“No, it’s OK. You’ve got work to do. I appreciate it though.”

As I was working, I would periodically get up to check and see if the police had come. About an hour later, they finally arrived.

As I was walking Mindy home from school, she told me that Shelly, Dennis’ daughter, was threatened by one of the kids at school.

“You’re kidding me?” I said to her.

“Nope. She told me that the older one, Don, came up to her in the hallway and told her that her father better be cautious and not call the police.”

“Oh, man! What did she do?”

“She reported it to the school resource officer, and he made out a report. I feel bad for her because she was shaken up. She’s an “A” student and loves her dad very much!”

“We exchanged phone numbers, just in case she needed someone to talk too.”

“Oh, boy. This is starting to get crazy. Someone spray painted his home overnight,” I told Mindy. “And I suggested to Dennis to call the police and he did.”

“This isn’t good, dad.”

Ass Mindy and I approached our block, I could see there was a police car in front of the renters home. We walked by and Mindy and I tried not to look over as we passed, but I asked Mindy to take a quick glance.

“It looks like the officer is talking with the two teens in front of their home. They must have already gotten home from school,” Mindy said.

We walked past and went inside our home. Mindy, who didn’t know Shelly well before this all started, texted her to find out what was going on.

“Shelly just texted me back and said the police came when the boys got home a while ago. She said her dad called the police because as soon as she and her dad came home from school, they cranked the music up very loud.”

About ten minutes later, I looked out the window and noticed there were now three police cars in front of the renters home. I said to Mindy, “something must be going down big time over there now.”

She texted Shelly again. Shelly texted back that she didn’t know what was going on but could hear the older boy yelling at the police.

Then, a minute later, Mindy said she got a text from Shelly saying the older boy, Keith, was handcuffed and put into the police car.

We both knew this wasn’t going to go away. In fact, it didn’t take long at all to escalate to the next level.


Part 5.

That evening, as we were eating dinner, Pat noticed there were flashing lights reflecting in the living room window. I immediately knew it wasn’t good. I got up from the dining room table, as did Pat and Mindy and we went to go check it out.

There were two police cars out in front of Dennis’ house. “Damn it! These low life scum bags are causing all kinds of issues and problems in this neighborhood. This is ridiculous!” I yelled.

“Paul, you need to get a hold of yourself. You’re getting too worked up,” Pat said to me in a concerned, raised voice.

“Listen, these people don’t care about anybody. They move from place to place and are like roaches. They are infestations and we can’t get rid of them!”

“Dennis is a good man. He has tried to do everything he can to not upset these people. All he wants to do is sleep because he works five to six nights a week. He tried being patient, nice, even sleeping in his daughters' room, which he hated to do.”

“I know, Paul. But Dennis and his family have to deal with this, not us.”

“Mom, Shelly was threatened at school today and the older boy, Keith was arrested,” Mindy said.

I then told her about the spray-painting incident. Pat just stood there and watched the lights flash. I could tell she was upset and concerned too. But she also didn’t want her family to be dragged into this.

Mindy kept texting Shelly for updates but got no response.

We sat down and finished our dinner but stayed very quiet. Each of us thinking about what was going on across the street. Then Mindy heard a text from her phone. Thinking it was Shelly, she got up to check it. It was.

“She said that their dad and younger son came over, banged on their front door and screamed at her dad that they were going to kill him if he kept up his s**t! She said her dad called the police and the police said they would talk with the father.”

“She is very upset and scared,” Mindy said. “Her mom is still crying, and her dad is shaking.”

A few minutes later, we noticed the police left. Things seemed to have calmed down, at least from our perspective, but across the street, it was a different story.

Around 8:30 that evening, I heard a knock at the door. I looked out and noticed it was Hal. I opened the door and he said to me, “I just spoke with Dennis. Can we speak privately?”

“Sure!”

I invited him in and introduced him to Pat and Mindy. We went into the garage, and I leaned against the washer as he proceeded to tell me what was going on.

“I noticed the lights flashing when I came home from work. I waited until the police left and then went over to speak with Dennis. I met his wife and daughter, and they are very afraid and upset.”

“Don, the father of those two delinquents, came over to threaten Dennis with an ass whipping if he called the police again. I guess his older son was arrested today for threatening one of the police officers. He is already back home.”

“Man, this is getting crazy, Hal,” I replied.

“Something has to be done about this bullshit, Paul! We can’t watch this family go through this. This simply isn’t right.”

“I agree, Hal. But what can we do? I mean, I have a family and I don’t want this crap on my doorstep. I’m afraid too.”

Hal then said in very tense, but concerned voice, “I have a great, well- paying job. I am an IT manager at Global Net Sales. I don’t want to get arrested and lose my job. But I can’t just sit and watch a family get torn in half because of some bad people who are just renting here!”

“Maybe we should try and get a hold of the owner of the house and let him know what’s going on?” I asked Hal.

“Already tried that. I left four phone messages for him and he hasn’t returned one call. I guess he is to busy or not concerned,” Hal replied.

“What about the management company that is supposed to look after the house?” I then asked.

“They said they would look into it. See how far that got us. Look, I want to see this get resolved too. I want peace and we had peace for a long time. Now, that is gone, and I think we need to stick together.”

Hal continued on, “We are both smart and work with computers. Maybe we can figure something out between us?”

“I agree, Hal. Let’s think things over and try and come up with a solution.”

Once Hal left, I told Pat and Mindy what Hal told me. Pat was starting to realize this was getting serious and Mindy knew Shelly was scared.

The next day, Shelly called me from school and was crying.

“What’s going on sweetie?”

“I ran into Shelly in the hall and she was hysterically crying!”

“What happened? Why?” I urgently asked.

“She said the younger boy, Andrew was passing her in the hallway in between classes and went over and shoved her into the lockers. He whispered into her ear that she better tell her daddy to mind his own business, or he would be messed up and then told Shelly, ‘I’ll have something for you too, and I don’t think you’ll be a virgin after that.’

“Are you kidding me! Are you kidding me!” I kept repeating in total disbelief.

“No, dad. I’m not! She was going to report it. She just ran and was crying so loud. Dad, I’m scared! I’m really scared!”

“Mindy, nothing is going to happen to you. Just calm down. The police will handle this, don’t worry.”

I hung up and just sat down on the couch. “Oh, my God! This is getting out of control,” I said out loud.

I decided I needed to go talk with Dennis. I changed my clothes and went out the front door, just to see Dennis speeding off. He must have gotten the call from Shelly and went to the school.

I decided I’d better follow him and try to help him out. I got in my car and drove up to the school. As soon as I walked into the school office, I could hear Dennis yelling at somebody.

“Don’t tell me you can’t do anything! My daughter was threatened! She is a complete mess and scared to death!”

They were in an office that was on the other side of the looked entryway and the office wouldn’t let me in. I told them I was his friend and could calm him down, but they refused and said the police have it handled.

I knew Dennis had been sleep deprived for months and was coming undone. He wasn’t a rational person anymore and now his daughter was told her dad could get hurt and she could be raped.

Then, I saw Andrew being escorted toward the resource officers room, where Dennis was, by a school staff member. Dennis and Shelly walked out of the room and into the hallway, where I could see both of them from where I was.

As soon as Dennis seen Andrew coming, he immediately went up to him and pushed him into the wall and yelled, “You touch my daughter, and I will kill you! I will f**king kill you! You are a piece of shit!”

The police officer radioed for backup and started pulling Dennis off of the boy. Dennis struggled and shrugged off the officers attempt to get him away. Dennis then backed up and the officer told Andrew to go sit in the room.

Within seconds, the other resource officer arrived, and they talked privately for a quick moment and then spoke to Andrew. Shelly was by her dad’s side and holding his hand.

Then, the officer who observed everything came up to Dennis and started talking to him. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but then saw and heard Shelly start balling and saying, “No! No! please don’t take my dad!”

I watched in horror as they made Dennis turn around and the officer took out his handcuffs and handcuffed him, right in front of his daughter, the office staff, and students, who had gathered to watch.

A school staff member came to try to calm Shelly down. But as they escorted him past the office staff and toward me, she was yelling for them to stop and begging them to please not take her daddy away.

It was one of the worst moments of my life, watching Dennis go by, tears rolling down his bowed head, and hearing his daughter on the other side of the locked door wailing in pain for her dad.

I don’t think Dennis even knew I was there when he went by, but I followed them to the police car that just arrived out front.

“Officer, is there something I can do? I am his neighbor and friend. Can we talk?” I asked frantically.

“I’m sorry, but your friend here is under arrest for assaulting a teenager.”

“Please, let me explain. He had been under a tremendous amount of duress with this kid and his family. Please give him a moment to explain,” I pleaded.

“Sir, anything you or he have to explain can be done to the judge. He assaulted and verbally threatened a teenager in front of me. He is going to jail.”

Once they put him into the car, he looked at me, with tears rolling down his face, and said, “Please look after my wife and daughter.”

I promised him I would.

Part 6.

I watched as the police drove off with Dennis in the back seat. I quickly went to go find Shelly to comfort her. I went to the desk and told them I needed to see her.

“I’m sorry, sir. Unless you’re family or a pre-approved member of the family, you cannot talk to her during school hours,” the receptionist said to me.

I decided just to go back home and wait for school to get out. I drove home and glanced by Dennis’ place as I did.

“Man, what a shame. This had really gotten bad. Poor Dennis,” I said to myself.

I prepared to walk back up to school before it got out to pick up Mindy. I was hoping I would be able to see Shelly, as well. But as I walked out the door, I could see Dennis’ wife, Lucy, was home. So, I assumed she picked up Shelly.

I got to school, and Mindy came out and gave me a big hug.

“I love you, dad,” she said.

“I love you too, sweetie!”

We started walking home, and I asked her how Shelly was. She said she hadn’t spoken to her and thought she went home with her mom.

“The school called her mom and explained what happened with her dad. I’ve tried texting her, but she hasn’t responded back yet.”

As soon as Pat got home, I told her everything that happened at school.

She couldn’t believe it. Her eyes popped open wide as she gasped, “Oh my God! That’s terrible! Poor Dennis! What a shame.”

After dinner, I looked out the front door and noticed Hal was home.

“Honey, I’m going to go visit Hal and maybe go talk with Lucy after.”

I knocked on Hal’s door, and he opened it, dressed in his bathrobe.

“Sorry, man. Just got out of the shower. Come on in.”

He asked me to wait for a few while he changed. Once he came back out, he sat down, and I told him everything that took place at the school.

“That’s bullshit, and you know it, Peter! They had no right doing that. He’ll probably lose his job now because of that piece of a crap family!”

“I know, I know. I feel so bad for him and his wife and daughter. I watched all of this in horror today,” I said to Hal.

Hal got up and went to the kitchen, shaking his head. He offered me a drink and then pulled his dinner out of the microwave. He came back and sat down to eat. “Hope you don’t mind, but I’m starving.”

We just sat and talked about how all of this was so unfortunate.

While he was still eating, I decided to try and call Eric to see if he was home. He answered the phone, and I asked if he could come over and talk for a few minutes. He said he would be happy to.

Within ten minutes, he knocked at the door. I got up to answer it, while Hal continued to finish up his meal.

We caught him up on all that took place, and he just sat there in the chair with a blank stare. After a few minutes, I asked him if he was okay.

“Yes, I’m fine. I just don’t like what’s happening now, and I’m trying to figure out what we can do,” Hal replied back to me.

“Well, it’s not just the dog anymore. Now it’s far worse,” said Hal.

Then, I received a text from Mindy, “Shelly just wrote to me and said her dad is home from jail. She said he was very subdued and just wanted to go to bed. Her mom was distraught and made mention that they would now have to get a lawyer and worried about his job. She said he was told not to come in tonight and that he would have to come in during the next day to explain everything that took place.”

The three of us knew we had to do something to help, but what. Deep down, none of us wanted to go to jail either. I didn’t want to drag my family into this, and I was guessing Eric didn’t want to pull his wife into it either.

But then Hal made a comment that caught me off guard, “Maybe we should burn the house down?”

“Hal, are you serious?” I asked. “I mean, that is arson. We could go to prison and possibly kill someone and be charged with murder.”

“Only if we get caught,” he replied. We need to be careful, that’s all.”

“Hal, have you ever been to jail before?” I asked him.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve never even been given a ticket.”

“Well, then I don’t think as a manager, making good money, you want to start breaking the law now.”

“Well, Paul. Maybe you can just stay in your pretty little house, with your pretty family, and do nothing. I can’t. I can’t watch much more of this.”

We were both starting to get a little heated in our conversation when all of a sudden, we heard motorcycles coming. Very loud motorcycles, and a lot of them. We all walked out onto Hal’s porch and watched as the they started turning onto our street and into the renters' yard.

They kept coming and coming. There must have been about twenty.

“Those are real bikers there!” Eric said. “Those are no weekend warriors.”

“How do you know,” I asked Eric.

“Trust me, I know! These are some nasty dudes.”

“I wonder what they’re doing at Don’s house? Is he a biker?” I asked.

“Looks that way. Or he knows some bikers.”

The noise was loud, and I was definitely scared. To see even a few bikers pull into a neighborhood is intimidating. Now, these renters, who have caused all sorts of grief, have apparently brought in even more trouble.

Hal went inside and grabbed a few beers while we sat down on his porch to watch everything.

Within a few minutes of them arriving, we heard the music crank really loud. We could feel the bass on Hals front porch. We sat there and just watched for about ten minutes when around the corner we saw a police car pull up in front of the renters' house.

Within a moment, two more showed up. As the officers walked up to the yard, they were greeted by the bikers.

I jumped up and said, “this doesn’t look good, guys! I don’t like this at all.”

Then we started to hear yelling from the bikers, and it looked like one of the officers was shoved.

My heart was racing, and I got out my cell phone and dialed 911.

“Paul, who you are calling?” Asked Hal.

“I’m calling for more help.”

As soon as they picked up, I saw another police car, with its lights on turn the corner. Then two more came racing down our street from the other end. I told the dispatcher I think they have it handled and hung up.

“Holy shit! It’s going down!” Hal yelled.

Once the extra cops started showing up, the bikers began taking off. They were speeding away, one after the other. More police started coming down the street.

When there were about eight police cruisers, the last two bikers revved up their bikes to the max, a tremendous sound. Then one took off one direction, and the other took off through Dennis’ yard, did a donut, then sped off.

The cops started leaving, and it didn’t appear anything happened to Don. Soon, it was quiet again.

I told the guys I would catch them later and walked home. I was so relieved that nothing terrible happened but couldn’t believe that even more crap was taken place with these people.

When I got home, I told Mindy and Pat what we saw, and they told me they heard all the motorcycles and were wondering what was going on.

The next morning, I went out for a walk. I started to head down the North end of the street when I heard Dennis call my name. I turned around and headed toward his home. I could see how bad his beautiful lawn was torn up.

“Dennis, I’m so sorry about all this crap. I can’t believe everything that is happening,” I said to him.

“It’s not your fault, Paul. I know you’re trying.”

“What’s happening with the arrest?”

“Lucy bailed me out last night. I need to hire an attorney, as that little bastard wants to press charges. I just talked with my boss, who told me they might fire me. I have to go down and talk to human resources and their legal department. He said that normally, they don’t like any association with that stuff.”

“Oh, come on, man! Are you kidding me? They’re ready to fire you for that?”

“Yes, they’ll probably think I can’t control myself because I assaulted a teenager.”

“Did you explain everything that was going on?” I asked.

“Yep, my boss didn’t want to hear it.”

Eric must have seen us talking in front of Dennis’ house and joined us.

Once he found out Dennis might be fired, he said, “That’s not right. I would sue the hell out of them.”

“Well, I got to deal with this legal crap now. With me possibly losing my job, I’m not sure we can keep the house.”

While we were talking, the dog started barking non-stop.

“Why do people rush to judgment? I asked. I mean, instead of innocent until proven guilty, it seems you’re guilty until proven innocent. They take your mug shot for everyone to see, your boss fires you before you even get your day in court. Your friends are all talking. It’s all over the news.”

“I was scared to death!” Dennis said. “I’ve never been arrested before. I was embarrassed for my daughter who had to see that. She has to go to school today and listen to all those kids talk about her dad getting arrested.”

Then, Dennis started to become emotional and chocked up. He said he needed to go and went back into his home. Eric stood there for about twenty seconds, then said, “I think things are only going to get worse.”

He said he would see me later and went home. I went back home and started working again. Unfortunately, I kept being distracted thinking about what Dennis was going through and the comment Eric just made.

“Things may get worse,” I said to myself.

I got up from my desk and looked out my living room window. “We had such a decent, peaceful neighborhood. Now, in just three months, it’s gotten to this,” I said aloud again.

I went to go pick up Mindy from school, and shelly was with her. She asked if I minded walking her home because her dad was sleeping.

We started walking, and I asked Shelly if her dad was okay.

“He found out today that he lost his job. He is very depressed,” she somberly replied.

“I am so sorry to hear that, Shelly.” I quickly replied.

“Thanks! He told me he needed to sleep and said he didn’t think you would mind. I believe he is also sleeping in my room, so if I can stay with Mindy for a little bit, I would appreciate it.”

“Absolutely, Shelly.” You can stay with us whenever you want,” I reassured her.

As we walked closer to our street, I could hear the dog barking as usual. We turned onto our road and started walking past the renters' house when the older boy, Keith, walked out his front door and started walking toward us.

I started to get nervous fast, and so did the girls. He was walking right to where we were heading, and quickly. Mindy said to me, “Dad, this could be trouble.”

I told them just to keep walking. We picked up the pace, and I pulled out my cell phone, in case I needed to call 911. He walked right in front of us and said, “Listen here F**kers! We run this neighborhood, and you better stop calling the F**king law and mind your own F**king business!”

I said, “Listen, we don’t want any trouble with you. We are just trying to get home. Please let us by.”

“What if I don’t want to? What are you going to do you fat, old f**ker?”

The girls didn’t say anything, and I dialed 911. As the phone was ringing, the younger kid, Andrew came out of his house and ran toward us.

Just then, 911 answered, and I told them I needed the police immediately. Once I said that Andrew came over to me and smacked the phone out of my hand. The phone went flying onto the pavement.

The girls both started yelling, “Oh my God, please leave us alone, please! Just let us go!” Mindy started balling, and Shelly started screaming for her dad.

“Dad! Dad!”

“Shut the f**k up! You shut your mouth, bitch.”

I yelled at Keith, “Don’t call Shelly a bitch.”

Then Andrew came around to me and said, “Maybe we should just beat the shit out of this old man and have fun with both of these bitches now!”

The girls started really crying. We were all petrified and didn’t know what to do. We were being pushed around by two teen boys, right in the middle of the road.

Then, all of a sudden, I hear this man yell, “Hey! You little bastards! Get the hell away from them!”

It was from Eric. He was walking toward us quickly, and the two boys stopped and approached Eric.

“What the f**k are you going to do about it?” Keith said to him.

As Eric got closer, he opened up his jacket and revealed a handgun in his waistband. Both the boys quickly took note of it.

“I’ll shoot both of you pieces of shit right now and do this whole neighborhood a favor!”

He then stopped, and the boys stayed.

“Just because you got a gun, don’t think I’m afraid of you?” Keith said. “I have guns too. You want me to go get mine?”

“I want you to leave these people alone. Go back to your house, now!” Eric yelled.

It was right at that moment I felt like someone may actually die, right then and there. Then Andrew turned toward the end of the street and said, “Cops, man. We got to go.”

I turned around and was so relieved to see three police cars pulling onto our street. The two boys started walking toward their home when one of the officers got out of his car and told them to stop. As the other cops got out, two of them took the boys out of our hearing range, and the other asked us what happened.

I felt so thankful they showed up and was nervous telling them what happened, especially with Eric still holding a gun, concealed by his jacket.

We explained everything and the officer wrote it all down. He asked me if I wanted to press charges against Andrew for assault and I really had to think about it. I knew he would be looking to get even if he got arrested. On the other hand, the cop said if I didn’t, then little would be done to him.

I decided to do it, and he was arrested, as well as Keith because he was still waiting for a trial on the assault charge against Shelly at school and he was already on probation from past incidents.

Nothing came up about the gun, and the police all left. I told the girls to go home, and Shelly ran home to wake and tell her dad what happened. Mindy ran to our home.

I thanked Eric, and he told me he didn’t realize anything was going on until he heard the girls yelling.

I asked Eric if he called the police and he said no. “I would have preferred to deal with them by myself.”

When I went home, still shaking from the adrenalin, I wondered who may have called the police. Did 911 track my cell phone or maybe it was someone who may have saw what was happening?
​

Part 7.
 
 
That evening, we talked about the incident at dinner and Pat was very worried about the safety of Mindy.
 
“Paul, I’m not sure we should send her to school. Look at what happened to Shelly,” She expressed. “Who can we turn to. What can we do? I mean, we’re like being held prisoner here. They don’t do much with these juvenile delinquents, and the parents don’t care.”
 
We heard a knock at our door. For a few moments, I thought it could be Don, and my heart started beating. It was Dennis, Shelly and his wife, Lucy.
 
Pat let them in, and they asked if they could talk for a bit.
 
We all sat in the living room and then Lucy said, “We are going to go out of town for a little bit. We have some family about fifty miles North of here, and we think it would be good for all of us to get away and get things squared away.”
 
“I don’t blame you a bit,” Pat said.
 
“What can we do to help?” I asked them.
 
“Keep an eye on the house, if you could,” Dennis replied. “Get our mail and look inside and make sure nothing is damaged or destroyed. I’ll give you a spare key.”
 
“Absolutely. I’d be happy to,” I assured them.
 
They then got up and said they were almost packed and would be heading out within a half hour. Lucy gave Pat their cell numbers, as well as the phone number and address where they would be staying. It was at Lucy's parents' place.
 
Once they left, I looked at Pat and said, “I think they’re making the right decision.”
 
She said, “I agree. They need to get out of town and let things cool off for a while.”
 
Mindy then said, “Shelly told me her dad is anxious about the finances and the pending charges.”
 
I went to bed that night thinking I was a good neighbor, just because I was going to look after Dennis’ house.
 
The next morning, I awoke to the barking dog and a realization; how am I going to check their house without them knowing it? Because, I thought, if they see me going inside, they’ll know Dennis isn’t home.
 
I didn’t have confidence that they would pick up on the car not moving, but the boys would possibly see me check the mail if they’re not in school.
 
I decided to wait until night, then check it. Around 8 p.m., I told Pat I was going over to Hal’s, then go to check Dennis’ house.
 
Hal was just finishing his dinner when he let me in. We talked for a bit, and he agreed the best thing for Dennis, and his family was for them to leave for a bit. I asked him if he wanted to go check on the house together and he said he’d be happy to.
 
We both walked from his front door directly across to their front door, trying to stay within the bushes and landscaping. I didn’t see anyone outside, so I quickly walked to the mailbox next to the street and got his mail. I quickly walked up to the front door, got the spare key he loaned me and opened it.
 
He had left the living room and over the sink kitchen lights on. We looked around and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. We checked the bedrooms upstairs and all the doors and windows. I even looked into the garage. Everything seemed good.
 
I left his mail on the kitchen table, and we left. I walked with Hal back to his place and then went home.
 
I could see Dennis’ living room light was lit through his curtains from my living room window. Other than his car being in the driveway and his wife’s not, everything looked normal.
 
The next morning, I started working at my desk, and after several hours I stopped and thought, “My, it’s quiet this morning. No barking dog. Maybe they finally brought him inside, or he just got tired of barking?”
 
I went to the window and looked over toward Dennis’ house and saw Keith and Andrew walking across their yard to his.
 
“What the hell are they up to?” I thought.
 
There was nothing I could do because I didn’t know what they were doing. After a few minutes, I saw them cross back over into their yard. Nothing else happened.
 
I decided to pick Mindy up from school in my car since I didn’t want any more issues with those boys. We got home, and everything was quiet. Still no barking dog.
 
Later that evening, I again went over Hal’s place, this time he was expecting me, and we walked over. I went to go check the mail. I opened the mailbox and pulled out his mail. Just then, Don, the father, came out of his house and started walking toward his truck. He glanced at me walking up to the front of Dennis’ house and just got into his truck and sped away.
 
I reached Hal, and he said, “Did he see you?”
 
“Yes, but he didn’t say anything. I’m glad about that.”
 
As we went to the front door, there was some kind of note attached to it. Without a porch light on, it was difficult to read it. It had what appeared to be red paint on it. We opened the door and went inside.
 
I looked at the note, and it had written words, with what appeared to be red paint or blood. It said, “You killed our dog, now we may kill you!!!”
 
We were in absolute shock. I immediately said to Hal, “We need to call the cops, this is very serious!”
 
But Hal thought for a moment, took the note and looked at it, and then said, “If we call the police, then the boys will know Dennis isn’t home. As it is, the father saw you get the mail, that’s it.”
 
“Well, not exactly. I saw the boys come over here this morning. They must have knocked on the door and then left the note. I bet they were going to try and go after Dennis, thinking he did something.”
 
We looked around the house, and nothing appeared to be touched. We sat down in Dennis’ living room and continued to discuss what we were going to do.
 
I said, “Let me call Pat and ask her.”
 
Hal agreed. I called Pat and told her what had been happening. She didn’t take long to say, “Call the cops now! Don’t mess around!”
 
I took her advice and called. After about fifteen minutes, the police knocked at the front door. We invited them in and showed them the note. They said they would go talk with the boys and see what was happening. We asked them not to tell them who called.
 
They left, and we waited for about fifteen minutes. Then they came back, and we all spoke inside.
 
“The boys deny writing any note. But they did say they found their dog dead in the yard early this morning. They didn’t see a reason, other than they think the dog may have been poisoned, as they found a few pieces of the chewed meat in the dogs' throw-up.
 
They said Dennis was the only one to complain about the dog so they wouldn’t be surprised if it was him. We explained to the police that Dennis and his family were out of town.
 
The police made out a report, but without any real proof they wrote it, there was nothing they could do. They did promise to keep an eye on the house, though.
 
Once they left, Hal and I locked the house up, and we walked back to his. I asked if he thought I should call Dennis and let him know.
 
“I wouldn’t,” he said. “It would probably just make him more upset. Let him sleep and recover.”
 
The next morning, I took my morning walk and decided to stop over Eric’s house on the way back. He invited me in, and I caught him up on everything.
 
“I suspected Dennis took off. It was quiet over there, and I didn’t see his wife’s car and didn’t see his move.”
 
When I told him about the dog possibly being killed, he said, “That dog probably deserved it. All it did was make unnecessary noise all day long. That dog started most of this nonsense.”
 
I agreed and went back home. I started working for a while when I received a call from Dennis.
 
“Hey, Dennis. How are you doing?”
 
“I’m feeling better, Paul. Getting a lot of sleep. Thanks for asking. How are things down on Freedom Street?”
 
I was hesitant to tell him about the dog, but for some reason, felt I should.
 
“We think someone may have killed the dog next door,” I told him.
 
“Oh, wow! Who would do that?”
 
“I don’t know. But they thought maybe it was you and posted a threatening letter on your door.”
 
“Holy crap! Did you call the police?” He asked.
 
“Yes, we did. And they made a report. But because there is no evidence to prove who wrote it, there was nothing they could do.”
 
I could hear Dennis explaining to his wife, Lucy, what was going on. She became upset and worried. Then I could listen to her tell Dennis, “We are not going back down there until all of this is resolved.”
 
I told Dennis not to worry, and we would handle everything. We hung up, and I went back to work.
 
Later that evening, I was about to go to check Dennis’ house, when Pat told me, “I want you to be very careful. I don’t want you getting hurt. Make sure you go with Hal when you check the house.”
 
I assured her I would and left to go see Hal. I knocked on his door, but there was no answer. I tried calling his cell, but it went right to voice mail. His car was in the driveway, but no one was answering. “Maybe he’s taking a shower?” I thought.
 
I decided to go check out the house myself. I walked across and then went to the mailbox. I got the mail and headed back up toward the home when I noticed the living room light wasn’t on.
 
I briefly stopped and said to myself, “That’s odd. Maybe the light burned out?”
 
I continued toward the front of the house and approached the door before I put the key in, I thought, “No, I’m not doing this. I’m not going in there by myself. I’ve seen too many horror movies, and I’m no fool.”
 
I started heading back to Hal’s place when he came out his front door.
 
“Hey Hal, I was wondering what happened to you?”
 
Sorry, Paul. I spilled spaghetti all over myself when I sat down to eat and had to take a quick shower. Did you already go in and check the place out?”
 
“No, I was too creeped out to go in by myself. The living room light was not on.”
 
“I understand. Let’s go together. Let me grab a flashlight, just in case.”
 
I waited for a few minutes for Hal to get back, relieved he was okay, and we were going together.
 
We walked inside, and the light over the sink wasn’t on either. We then realized there was no power. We looked around with his flashlight and my light from my phone. We checked in each room, but everything appeared to be intact.
 
As we were headed out the front door, we heard someone yell at us, “Put your hands up! Put your hands up now!”
 
We had all these flashlights in our face. We put our hands up.
 
“Now, walk slowly out the front door, turn around and face the window, with your hands up!”
 
We knew it was the police because they were professional sounding. Once they came up and frisked us, we explained who we were and what we were doing. They called Dennis to verify we had permission to enter the house.
 
Apparently, someone had seen the flashlight inside and thought we were robbing the place, but they wouldn’t say who called.
 
Everything was cleared up. The police checked the breaker box outside and found the main switch was off. They turned it back on, and the lights came back on.
 
We checked the house, and all the windows and doors were locked. But who switched the power off?
 
After I went back home, I told Pat everything and called Dennis. I explained what happened and he was fine.
 
“Don’t know why the power was off. That’s never happened before,” he said.


Conclusion  

 
Three nights have passed, not including the one Dennis and his family left to go be with Lucy’s parents. I am regretting having to check his house because the last two weren’t good at all. But what could I do? By now, the boys must know Dennis isn’t home, and I don’t want anything to happen to his home.
 
On the fourth evening of checking his home, I was really hesitant to go over. I called Hal, but he said he was as sick as a dog and laid up in bed. I decided to give Eric a call, but he didn’t answer. I left a voice mail and decided to wait a bit, in case he did call.
 
Around 10 p.m., there was no call from Eric, and I decided to go by myself, against my better judgment. I turned my porch light off and walked out my front door. I waited in the dark a few moments to see if there was any activity at the renters or Dennis’ house. Nothing.
 
I walked right to the mailbox, got the mail, and went to the front door. Once inside, it all looked good. I started checking the garage, the kitchen, and the other rooms. I went upstairs to check the other two bedrooms. The master looked untouched, but when I went to Shelly’s it was a disaster! Her clothes were all out of her drawers, and it looked like someone had taken her personal undergarments and laid them all out on the bed. There were items all over her room, flipped upside down and tossed everywhere.
 
I pulled out my phone and started dialing 911, when all of a sudden, the lights went out in the room. I tried flipping the light switch, but nothing. I turned my cell phone light on and tried other lights in the hallway, but the power was out.
 
Then I could hear what sounded like footsteps coming up the stairs. I quickly ran into Shelly’s room, closed and locked her bedroom door. I then ran into her bathroom and closed and locked that door.
 
911 answered, and all I could do was whisper, “Please help me. I am trapped in my neighbor’s home, and people have broken in and are after me.”
 
I could hear the doorknob in Shelly’s room start to be jiggled. The operator kept asking me for the address. She couldn’t hear what I was saying, and I was afraid to speak any louder.
 
She kept saying, “Sir, I can’t hear you. Can you please speak up?”
 
I heard the door get kicked in and my heart was beating out of my chest. I was almost hyperventilating. I tried texting Pat, but my adrenaline was flowing so fast, I couldn’t operate the phone to even text. My hands couldn’t even function.
 
I heard a male voice, which sounded like Keith’s, say in an average, everyday volume and tone, “I know you’re in there, you rat, and you’re going to pay for having Andrew go to jail.”
 
My God! I just sat there as quiet as I could. He kept trying the door handle, but it wouldn’t open.
 
Then I heard another person come into the room.
 
“You got that bastard cornered?”  The new voice, which sounded like Andrew, said.
 
“Yes, he is right in there. We’re going to have some fun with him. Let’s kick this f**kin door in and get him!”
 
My phone rang. I looked at it, and it was 911. I answered it, and I started pleading with them to help me. “Please send help!  They’re going to kill me!”
 
One of them started kicking the door with tremendous thrusts. The thin door started cracking and breaking apart. I stood up and was in the shower, shaking and crying. 911 said they were transferring me to the police department. But that was too late for me.
 
The door burst apart, and they both came in and grabbed me. They pulled me from the shower and threw me to the ground. One of them started kicking my stomach and knocked the wind out of me. They grabbed my hair and started pulling me into the hallway and down the stairs.
 
I was screaming in pain and begging them to let me go. But they wouldn’t stop. Step by step, they kept pulling me down. When we reached the bottom, they pulled me by my clothes to the middle of the living room floor and had me kneel.
 
“Listen here, you piece of shit! We're going to beat you to death. Then we’re going to burn this house to the ground!”
 
I started to plead with them, “Please, please don’t kill me. I have a wife and daughter. Please! I beg of you!”
 
Then one of them, I couldn’t tell who kicked me in the face. When I fell backward, the other hit me with some type of hard object. Then he hit me again and again. I started feeling my ribs crack and my face was getting bloody, as I could taste it running into my mouth.
 
They stopped for a moment. I just laid there. All I could do was think about my beautiful Pat and lovely and sweet daughter, Mindy. They were just across the street. But no one could help me.
 
“It’s almost over, old man! You are about to meet your maker. I hope you’re good with the Lord!”
 
I said, “I am! I love him and my family!”
 
They then said, “We just love F**king people up!”
 
They both started hitting me so hard, I almost blacked out.
 
Then there came this tremendous bang! Bang!  The beating stopped, and it was quiet. I could barely lift my head up off the floor and see out of my swollen eyes what happened.
 
I heard this voice that said, “They deserved that.” 
 
I couldn’t tell who it was, because my ears were ringing from the gun and damaged by the beating. My head fell back down on the floor, and I blacked out.
 
I awoke two days later in the hospital with my wife by my side.
 
“Hey, sleepy head. Welcome back!” She said smiling.
 
She told me that the police came in and found me on the floor, unconscious.  I asked about the two boys and what happened to them.
 
“There was no one else found there but you,” she said.
 
“But I heard gunshots. Someone shot them, didn’t they?” I asked.
 
“The police didn’t find anybody else there. They said someone ransacked Shelly’s room and broke several doors, and there was blood in many places. They said they need to talk to you when you wake.”
 
“Do they think I did something wrong?” I asked.
 
“They’re not saying.”
 
“Where is Mindy?” I asked.
 
“She’s at school. She was so scared to lose you. She cried for hours when we found out.”
 
“Are those two boys still around?”
 
“I haven’t seen them.”
 
The police did interview me soon after Pat and I’s conversation. They told me they didn’t know who did this to me. They would still be investigating for some time. I told them everything. They told me their father, Don, said his boys may have run away because he hasn’t seen them in a few days.
 
I had Mindy and Pat take a lot of our personal items from our house and stay at a family members house close by. Mindy didn’t see the boys at school. I asked Pat to talk with Eric before they left home. Pat told me Eric was so sorry to hear what happened and wished me a full recovery. 
 
He said he didn’t know what happened that night, as he was watching TV with his wife.
 
After two weeks in rehab, I was released. I refused to go back to our neighborhood, because I was and still am, quite frankly, too scared.
 
Now, we are renting a house a few miles away, and we hired movers to pack and deliver all of our belongings here.
 
I heard Dennis sold his house and moved his family into an apartment in another city.
 
I wrote this the best I could remember, mostly as it went along, starting around the time we had our Neighborhood Watch meeting.
 
I don’t know if those two boys are alive or dead, if the father knows or doesn’t, who shot them if someone actually did? All I know is, I will miss our neighborhood and all the years we spent there.
 
As much as I always grumbled about the two neighbors on the North side of Freedom Street and the junk in their yards, they were never any trouble. In fact, we had no trouble until those renters moved in.
 
Today, as I was bringing a few groceries in from the car, our neighbor next door yelled out to me, “Hi, Neighbor, welcome to the neighborhood.”
 
Funny, now we’re the renters. I wonder
 
 E.