Blogophilia 44.4 Topic: "Noisy Loud Neighbor"

Blogophilia 44.4 Topic: "Noisy Loud Neighbor"

Bonus Points:

(Hard, 2pts): include a character from a nursery rhyme

(Easy, 1pt): let a character serve cheesecake and share a bottle of Tullamore Dew

Jill pounded the wall that separated her apartment from her new neighbor.  Her feet were sore and her back was aching.  She’d worked another double shift at the restaurant.  She’d been screamed at, had her tush pinched, and one of her tables had completely stiffed her.  She needed to unwind.  Was it too much to ask for a little peace and quiet?  Jill rearranged the plush pillows that surrounded her on her well-worn sofa and turned the volume up on her TV.  She still couldn’t hear the news over her neighbor’s music and she was getting angrier by the second.  She didn’t care if they were new or not.  It was ten o’clock at night, and Jill had enough of the noise.  She pounded on the wall again.

“Hey!  Would you mind keeping it down?” she shouted.

Jill waited for a response, but nothing happened.  Maybe it was her imagination, but the stereo’s pounding beat seemed to be growing louder by the minute.

Jill took a sip of her tea.  She tried to force herself to remain calm.  Working at the restaurant had taught her both boldness and patience.  She counted in her head, but was up and standing by the time she’d reached fourteen.  Jill pulled on her clunky boots at the door, and slid into her jacket.  It was bitter cold outside and it had begun to snow.  Snow dusted the walkway in front of her apartment building like confectioner’s sugar.  She stuffed her hands inside her coat pockets as she made her way to her  noisy, loud neighbor’s apartment.  A man was standing in front of the neighbor’s dark doorstep in just a t-shirt and jeans.  Apparently, she wasn’t the only one that was fed up with the racket.

“I was just about to tell them to keep it down,” Jill called out as she approached the man.  “Some people can be so selfish and rude,” she added.  “They have no sense of how to live inside a community.”

The man nodded his head.  His arms were clutched around his body in an attempt to protect his exposed flesh from the elements.  “It won’t do any good knocking,” the man said through chattering teeth.  “That’s my place.  I went to my car to grab my cell phone, and I seem to have locked myself out.”

“Oh!”

“I don’t usually lock my car, so I didn’t have my keys on me.  Maintenance should be here soon.”

“How long have you been out here?”

“I’m not sure.  The battery died on my phone, but when I talked to the maintenance guy, he said he’d be here in about fifteen minutes.”

The unforgiving wind blew against them both.  Jill ignored any trepidation she might have had.  Under different circumstances, she never would have invited a stranger inside of her home, but she couldn’t allow this man to suffer from frostbite and exposure.  Even stray cats deserved better than to be out in the frigid winter elements.

“You can wait for the maintenance guy at my place,” Jill said with a sigh.  “We’ll call them again so they know where you are.”

“Thank you so much!” the man said as he followed Jill back to her place.  “I didn’t want to bother anyone…” his voice trailed off as Jill opened the door for him.

“Oh my God!” Jill said, when she closed the door and took in the sorry state of her neighbor.  His skin looked ashy gray in appearance and his teeth were chattering like typewriter keys.  “Here!”  She grabbed a fleece throw that had been previously draped over a chair, and handed it to the man.  He immediately wrapped it around his shoulders.