A visit from the neighbors

Have I mentioned the neighbors with the jungle out back? The ones that need a machete – or a flamethrower – to make their way through?

Well, they lost one of their menagerie.

Wait, wait, I mean lost like one of their cats got out; not like rainbow-bridge lost. Still upsetting for them, for sure, but you know: degrees.

Of course that is sad. Now I’m worried about the cat. I hope they find their kitty (and if I hear one way or the other I will of course let you know.)

But that’s not why I mention it.

I mention it, because in the middle of my busiest work day ever, there’s a knock on my door and it’s the girl next door (more accurately: young adult female, and still more accurately, generally a human with a crap attitude in neighbor-relations) and a guy I’ve never seen before. Brother, friend, boyfriend, not my business. Just that a young woman I barely know and a young guy I don’t know, are at my door.

Both masked, which is good but also unusual around here because I’m so often the only one who is.

She’s lost her cat and can she look in my backyard?

Yes, of course you can look, I say, smiling, and let her know to go around to the back gate, and I’ll let her in. I am making that gesture, but she is already starting to come in and try to cut through my house, when she realizes what I’ve said. And that what I said was not, Sure, come into my house.

And this is the funny part of this whole thing, this is why she came to my door. She has literally no problem hopping my fence into my yard without so much as a “by your leave.” We’ve seen her do it… when she couldn’t keep track of her rabbits the first year I was here. (Trend wise, this does not bode well for pets in her care.)

It’s not that she can’t get into my yard and wanted to ask for permission, or even just let me know they were going to do that. That isn’t the thing, or even something she respects in the slightest.

No, and this is why it’s funny: she wanted to cut through my house to get into my back yard, because that would be easier than going through their own yard.

Um no.

But feel free to hack back that nightmare sometime.

Anyway she doesn’t know how the cat got out — except she is guessing maybe the back window because she sleeps with her window open and the cat likes to sit in that window but there’s no screen and oh my gosh the horror you leave your window open to nature and all creatures great and small without even a screen??? (And also with a cat you care about???)

I also don’t comment on the fact that they could have cut around the block to get out back, and it still would have been faster and far less dangerous than picking their way through their jungle.

And finally, I don’t comment on the fact that their cat could be hiding or even hurt by some other undesirable creatures living under all that undergrowth they’ve been doing nothing about.

I say none of this. I just let them into my yard via the back gate and let them poke around to see that their kitty is not here.

I say none of that, because nothing would be gained by it, and because she is upset about her cat.

And I’m sorry about the kitty. I hope she’s okay. If I see her, I will of course let them know.

I have never seen the cat, but already I like it better than most of the people in that house.

And that also makes me sad.