Becoming the Neighbor's Wife

I like my neighbors and I am grateful for the way we look out for each other.

Take Tony, the 60 year old, barrel-chested guy who lives alone in the house next to me. My garage faces Tony's house, and a couple of times last fall he came over to warn me that my garage door was left open. I thanked Tony each time he came over to tell me.

One time he came over late at night while I watched the news. His presence on my door step was spooky! I breathed an audible sigh of relief when I realized it was just Tony looking out for me. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door and Tony was actually angry.

"Man, you've got to do something about that door. Do you think I'm always watching your house?" He was obviously grumpy, and he had shuffled over to my house in slippers, boxer shorts, and an old t-shirt.

For the first time I really noticed him. He wore his silvery hair cropped short on his head to disguise that he was mostly bald, and he had a groomed goatee, similar to mine but his was all gray. He often walked around his back yard without his shirt on while mowing the lawn, and I've always thought of him as a "man's man."

When Tony turned to walk away, I stepped out after him and apologized again. "I'm really sorry Tony, uh sir, and I would be glad to return the favor sometime." My words seemed to strike him as odd. He turned around with his angry face, and yet he had a twinkle in his eye when he answered, "Yeah, I'll make sure you do, kid." Yes, even at 42 years old and 6'2" I felt like a kid around Tony.

Nothing came of that discussion for a couple of months. Then, in Decemeber, our town was hit with a series of huge snowstorms.

One early Saturday morning I saw Tony laboring to finish shoveling his property. I felt bad for him. I remembered my talk with him in the fall, and since it was still well before my family was awake, I quickly threw on my hat, gloves, snow suit and boots--I didn't bother to put on clothes other than underwear since my snow suit was rated for mountain skiing. My boots were so warm I didn't even put on socks. I just trudged next door to Tony's house and started shoveling the walkway.