Hopefully there will soon be a return to not-so-serious, perhaps even comical posts very soon. It’s just that right now I have a hard time not thinking about this one particular incident. I apologize that the subject is a teensy bit macabre. And since I usually write what’s on my mind – this is what you get today.
I am disturbed when I drive up in the driveway to find several police cars, a forensics van and a huddle of crying people around the front of a neighbor’s house.
The neighbor I speak of is a single man whom we have never actually met. He is not what I would call elderly. I know another neighbor boy edged his lawn briefly over the summer (same neighbor boy who briefly mowed our grass before deciding he wanted none of that). This neighbor never came to a Christmas open house. I thought of going out to say “hi” a few times when I noticed him in his yard except each time he was talking on his mobile phone.
I am the first to admit I am not the best neighbor. This fact is quite clear in my mind after the experience with the police cars and forensics van.
I park my car in the garage and head inside, but I can’t help but watch the goings-on out the windows. Since I do not see the man who lives in the house out on the front lawn with everyone else I assume that something has happened to him.
And, indeed, I get to see a person, covered by a blue blanket, carried out of the house and put into the back of a van. I know it is the neighbor.
(I would never have imagined that someone found dead in their home would just be put in the back of a van. Just like that. I guess I always thought if that ever happened to me I would get driven away secured in the back of an ambulance…or maybe in a nice hearse. Friends and family, keep this in mind: perhaps arrangements could be made to take me away in something more elegant than a police-issue gray van. Just a thought. And, no, I have no idea why this is the first thing that came to my mind when the neighbor was driven away. Nor do I have any idea why I would even care. In all actuality, I will not care.)
Shortly, the police disband, and the group of shocked people leaves one by one, still crying and hugging each other.
What I don’t know is if the neighbor had health problems. Or if there is family nearby. Or what his name even is.
I did check with our neighborhood police officer who assured me there was nothing to be alarmed about and that our neighbor passed away “possibly due to health problems”.
Except it is alarming to me that someone died in his house near us and I’m not even sure how long it took for someone to become aware of the fact. It is alarming how little I know about some of my neighbors. It is alarming that I saw him carried out on a stretcher and I see his car still in his driveway, but I know no one is inside the house.
And isn’t every death related to some kind of health problem? (Apart from murders, which, I am relieved to report, is not the case in this instance. Whew.)
I’m having bad dreams now about death and crime.
Maybe we’ll make a little more effort to be better neighbors, to get to know the people on our street. I’m not sure how. Perhaps I’ll start praying for people to be out in their yards more. It’s not far-fetched; after all, the weather is really nice right now.
Surely less somber events will unfold in the next few days. Stay tuned.
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