New Neighbor

Some days had passed and I would sometimes see Mr. Walker strolling sort of aimlessly and preoccupied down his walkway and back again sometimes for 15 minutes or so and then I wouldn’t see him for days. One time in the middle of the day there was a little rumble and my house shook ever so slightly for about 15 seconds. Sufficiently aroused I went outside to see if I could spot the source. Billowing out of Mr. Wonka’s chimney were individual plumes of green yellow red and blue smoke and the air faintly smelled of lemon-lime and cherry.

It wasn’t until a brief bout with insomnia that I began to think something more organized and I was taking place at my new neighbors house. Something ambitious that I was not entirely sure we were zoned for in this small cul-de-sac.

Light and music, smoke and smells emanated fourth from that chimney and other diminutive smokestacks that I now noticed have appeared just above the tall privacy fence that was installed shortly after he moved in. This was the case most weeknights for about two to five a.m. when everything came to an abrupt halt and the house went back to looking unassuming, for the most part .

Then One evening at about 8:30, there was a knock at my door. I opened it to find a bit of a distracted Mr. Wonka standing there, he was glancing right and left every now and then. He briefly greeted good evening, introduced him self and then proceeded to asked me if he could borrow a cup of sugar to hold them over until his shipment arrived the next morning. He was making a rather large batch he said of peppermint bark to get a head of the Christmas rush and he was short just one cup. I said, wow you make candy? That’s wonderful. I try to find the time to make holiday sweets myself but this year I’ve been a little busy. He seemed conflicted about hurrying me for the sugar but promised to stop by with some sometime in the near future, so I got him the sugar and he hurried away.