Neighborhood watch

Oreggano and I are both suffering from similar ailments right now: a terrible hack and a longing for warm weather. Tonight, the weather was on our side so we took our smoker’s cough stoopside and watched the passersby. The neighborhood was full of it’s usual goodness – the souped up late 1950s Hearse, the deals on wheels dude, and the bicyclist who abruptly turns her bike around as soon as she hits my driveway. “Is she spying on us?” asked Oreggano. “Probably,” I answered. “I think she is part of the mobile neighborhood watch. Speaking of which, let’s grab our coffee cups and go for a walk.” We walked around several blocks – constantly assessing and observing, but never noting any criminal activity. Our neighborhood watch involves finding paint schemes we like, gardens that are pretty, soon to be vacated properties, homes with great bookcases, and parties where the people use actual wine glasses.

Oper only lives a few blocks from my house, so we decided to pay her a visit. This is another one of our (Oreggano and I) favorite things to do, unannounced visits. If the homeowners aren’t at home, we make ourselves at home on their porch, and send them photos. If we don’t know the homeowners, we don’t send them photos. Luckily, Oper was home and visiting with a friend. Apparently, even though we were interrupting, we weren’t interrupting.

After interrupting reminiscing for some time, we made our way back home. The sun had set, the streets were dark and the girl on the bike was gone. We were on our own. As I found a shiny object – a house with their curtains open and an amazing display of books – Oreggano found something moving on the ground. “Don’t look, just keep on walking. Keep walking,” she told me. “What? What was it?” I asked. “I don’t want to tell you. Do not look at it. We’re sick and must get home.”

Sometimes the most crucial part of neighborhood watch involves watching out for your friends and their weakness for shiny objects.