A Strange Neighbor Story

We found out from the property manager that the people who owned the house we moved into had moved to Japan with their two daughters with the military but had since separated. We noticed a house across the street that appeared to be empty with one of the gutters hanging down. But one day some people moved in. We didn’t really see them much at first. It was almost like they were trying to avoid us. We thought there was a mother and two daughters.

I wanted to meet them and welcome them to the neighborhood and see if there was any way I could reach out to them. One day I was coming home from a bike ride and their garage door was open and the girls were outside playing. I went over to say hello.

The mother was very friendly and we had a good conversation but a couple of times in the conversation she said,

        “Let me know if there is anything we can do for you.” 

I thought that was strange. That’s what I wanted to tell her. She was the new one here. Why would she be saying that to me?

I went back over to our house and told Laura about our conversation and something about what I said made her ask,

        “Is her name Vicki?”

        “I don’t know. Why?”

        “I think she’s the owner of our house.” I was taken aback but ran right back over to ask her. 

Knock, knock, knock. 

        “Oh, hi Stephen.”

        “Can I ask you something?” She had a bit of a wry smile.

        “Ye-e-s.”

        “Is your name Vicki?” A big smile now.

        “Ye-e-s.”

        “You’re the owner of the house we’re living in aren’t you?”

        “Ye-e-s.”

It turned out she was from Boston but when she had separated from her husband in Japan, she asked the girls where they wanted to move to and they said back to Chesapeake. The house they were staying in across the street was owned by another military family they had been friends with who had been moved to another state. They had just been leaving it empty until they moved back. Vicki wanted to move back into her house when our lease was up so the neighbors let her stay in their house until then. She hadn’t wanted to creep us out, which was why she was trying to avoid us at first.

Laura went over to chat and we developed a friendship. Laura even watched her girls from to time and she came to Laura for advice. When the lease was nearing the end, we wanted to renew but weren’t sure what Vicki was going to do. She was trying to get the house from her husband. We thought that was crazy since they had bought at the peak of the housing bubble and it was well under water financially. Our rent didn’t even cover the mortgage.

In the end, the husband decided he wanted to keep the house and she didn’t have the energy to fight him for it. She moved away and we ended up staying in that house for five years.

The reason we moved the company to Virginia began to fulfill its purpose. We started to find good people to join us and got staffed up. We did let the temp in Charlotte go and, in time, the other employee said she saw the writing on the wall and moved on to something else. I was pleased that she expressed her appreciation for the way I had always been kind to her in the midst of the office tension that had prevailed in Charlotte. I hoped I had been a good witness to her.


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