Neighborhood Watch

It's been a busy last two weeks, with all the bustle surrounding the holidays. People come and go without much notice.  Then a neighbor up the street called to ask about the neighbor between us. It seems that the other day a flower truck made a delivery. Since the next door neighbors weren't home, the delivery person went up the street and left the flowers. Then, a few hours later they came back, informed my up the street neighbor that the next door neighbors were in Florida for the week and they wanted the flowers back. Today there was a blue van with a ladder on top parked in my next door neighbors drive. That prompted my up the street neighbor to call and ask what she should do. She knew my next door neighbors weren't there. She seen a guy get out of the van and walk to the front out of her sight. He never came back. She wondered if she should call the police. I said that might be a good idea, but I understood her not wanting to make a call when it was nothing. As I was talking to her, I decided to ask Dad what he would do. What else was there to do, we needed to check it out! I wasn't so sure that was a good idea. I mean, I looked out the window and didn't see anyone, but there was a big blue van in the driveway. I could only imagine that there was someone just lining up the furniture in the foyer ready to start moving it all out, or maybe just take all the small stuff. While I was talking with my neighbor about how wise it would be to send an 80 year old over to check out a possible crime scene, Dad was "taking the dog for a walk". One small problem, we don't have a dog. Up the street he went wandering along, down the side walk and up to the front door. My up the street neighbor was standing in the window, so I decided I needed to be back up and went to the garage.  That put me at a great advantage since that put me in full view of the neighbors front door. I found Dad on the front porch talking to a guy named Bill. Bill the painter. Apparently the job he had started before Christmas went over and he was just finishing up. I walked over and introduced myself, told him we were sorry if we offended him, but I couldn't imagine someone having work done when they were out of town. He just smiled and said it was ok, although he did say he was trying to think of who he could call to bail him out if we had called the police. My next door neighbor called about an hour later. My up the street neighbor had left him five voice mail messages and he wanted to make sure that we knew it was ok for Bill to be there. He said Bill was a great painter and very reasonable. I decided to go back over and talk to Bill again. When he answered the door, he just smiled and looked at me. I think he thought I was a bit nuts. I told him that he got a glowing review from my next door neighbor and I wanted to get his card to have the house painted in the spring. He had given a great price to my neighbor, I wonder if I'll get that same deal in the spring? After all, I didn't call the police on him! Isn't it nice knowing that you have someone watching over your stuff when you're not home? Take Care!