Friday, September 21, 2007

THE ONE WITH THE HALF PAST SIX NEIGHBOR

What do you do when you encounter a neighbor who has gone mad? I mean, seriously, I'm actually living next to one. Day in day out, this guy will shout for no reasons, talk to himself and better still if anyone parks outside his house, he will scold them in abusive words or even colorful words.


The whole neighborhood knows about this and all this while, word have been abuzz of how to treat this guy. OK, this guy is in his early 50-ish, lives alone and surprisingly, is still working. No one actually knows about his life except to say that he was not like this before. As neighbors, we talked and we got to know his family members too; that consisted of 7 persons inclusive of the parents. I believe he is child #4 (3 girls, 2 boys). His family is also quite tragic, in the sense, there is no family ties whatsoever that binds them together. I do not see his other brothers or sisters come visit him and most of the time, he is staying in this house, which i believe he inherited from his parents, who have died a long time ago.


His sudden strange behavior started only like last year but it was confine to talking to himself and violent outburst of scolding the other neighbors persisted on only quite recently. Most of us are just terrified that he might run amok and start killing the residents here! So, what do we do? What rights do we have to remove him from here? Calls to his immediate family members have not produce any concrete answers. There is one sister who would come visit him and after a while, things got back to normal. The usual shouting and talking out loud became less and we believe that this could be attributed to medicines being prescribed.


But, just today, I had to come home to pick up some stuff. As it was only for a while, I did not park inside my house and just left my car between the borders of the side road. As I manoeuvred my car, he began to shout and shout. My head was thinking, should I park or should I not park? I'm not sure what to expect, besides, I thought maybe as neighbors, he might give me a chance by not shouting at me! Boy, was I wrong!


He called me names (all sorts and his voice was loud). For once in my life, I did not walk off, I just stood there and he shouted at me even louder. Then, I began to call his name, but he shouted even more. Fear did crept in, but I did not allow that to bother me. I ventured to my house and as I walked into the compound, he began his tantrums and even looked at me very violently. I stared back and looked him straight to his eyes! I was not going to be combed into fear just because you are mad. I have my rights and if he did the first move, I will just retaliate. Not to succumb to this kind of fear, I just looked at him, pity was all I had in my mind. I didn't retaliate nor did I exercised any provocations, I just let it be. The shouting then stopped because I know if I stoop to his level, I think I might just aggravate the whole situation. This time, I began level headed and instead of acting like the bitch that I can be, I just walked off, not because I was a coward, but because I had more sense to deal on this especially if it involves a mad man!

I have a mad neighbor..rescue me?

4 comments:

Kit said...

wow i guess the crazies are everywhere. hmmm well if he disturbs the peace i suppose the council can be called or if you are sure that he is insane, call the loonie dept of your nearest hospital. you are right, screamers are scary.

Shake Trees said...

wah was he possessed? scary scary cos he's lives beside u. u noe wat? my place oso got. lucky not nearby but when he (yar is a he too) shouts, makes me irritated. he shouts rite at specific time. midnite! gosh...

adrien said...

eekz. maybe all he needs is some TLC? :p

Ganymede said...

Oh yikes man. I can't afford to have a mad neighbour. I live in an apartment!