This one goes out to all those with crazy neighbors, specifically those who think you are out to get them. I have had a few over the years, most of which had no idea that they were in fact the nut case. I am not saying I am a great person to share a wall with, but, I am not insane.
The lady was crazy, or she had more money than sense and he hoped that this was not a sign of things to come.
It had started, quite simply, with a fence. After all, good fences make good neighbors. Him and his wife hadn’t lived in the area long, though they were once local years ago. They had moved back just short of retirement, and bought something on the pricier side, new construction, and it was a duplex.
The person who shared a wall with them was a real go getter, and with a child and a dog, fences were a high priority for her. The quote she had gotten was steep, but his portion was reasonable, and she had been willing to go around and ask others in development if they were interested, to get a better deal. Overall, he didn’t have to do much and really, that was the best kind of deal wasn’t it.
The problem wasn’t with her, it was the other neighbor, the one he didn’t share a wall with. He should have known that she was trouble from the initial assessment, when ti was explained to him, that upon hearing her other neighbor had not answered his door at the first ask, she was going to pay the entire fence herself.
He was a bit flummoxed, but went along, and when the day came to start he gave his payment up front and explained what he had understood from the developer’s about the rules for fence building.
When he returned home he was surprised to see he had no gate, and the fence was not in the agreed upon position, and there was a nasty email about riding roughshod over the plans made. A quick call to the builder explained the developer may have had plans, but they were not conveyed to the city, the neighbor had been irate, and demanded it be built on her yard alone, he was not to use it to attach a gate, and she would pay for it.
Dumbfounded, would be the best description of how he felt, and the builder wanted to know if he needed a refund, as his payment now covered more than the cost of his shared fence with the other neighbor. He quickly dismissed this notion, and asked if he could get a gate built, and get a few other small things done.
He tried to look at the bright side, a weekend worth’s of work done, and the cost of lumber was saved, he got a fence, and was not responsible for the upkeep for a large part of it. He felt the first stirrings of doubt over his new purchase, and hoped that this was just a misunderstanding, and not how this whole relationship was going to shake out. After all, there wasn’t that much space between their houses, and it would be horrible to spend the retirement at war with a crazy person
Anne McSommers' Writing Nook 