Well, you can't really force them if they're not into it, so I let them just shoot around and play. They did shootouts and basically a two on one free for all. Ernie's dad bought pizzas, and after a while, we stopped and ate.
Ernie's dad Graham parked in the driveway next door. That house is being sold so no one is currently living there. We haven't really had a big gathering at our place because of the parking situation. I think we've had three cars come over at most. Anyways, Graham expressed that he hoped the new neighbors would be nice and understanding of our hockey shenanigans. And then I told him about the old neighbors.
One week after moving in, my kids were out on the dead end street riding their bikes. The lady next door noticed them, came out of her balcony and just flat out started yelling. "Get your kids away from my car!" Along with the attitude and expletives. Apparently, they have had a history with the previous occupants of our house. And the occupants before them. I was taken aback and was quite shocked. I didn't say anything back, and I told the kids to stay away from their driveway. But I was very upset.
A couple of months later, Rusty was outside with some neighbor kids playing with their Nerf blasters. It was a sunny summer day, and there happened to be a shade tree in their driveway, so that's where he kids decided to stay. The lady next door opens her balcony door and starts yelling at them. I overhear her, and I decided to yell back. It wasn't pleasant, and I was in a rage. Eventually, one of the neighbor kid's parents came out. They had lived on our street for many years, and she told me to just ignore her. Thank goodness she talked to me, because it calmed me down.
Things were tense with us from then on. That summer and fall, I just made sure the kids stayed away from their driveway, but I made sure they felt free to come out and play on our street. And since I'm just a big kid myself, I was always out there playing with them anyway.
Now, the lady's husband was always okay. I said hello to him the first time I saw him, before the initial incident had occurred. And according to the previous occupants and the other neighbor, he was never the problem. They said maybe she was just grumpy because she was old. But I don't like that kind of reasoning. A lot of old people are happy. And again, the old man wasn't as ill-tempered as her. But still, I considered him guilty by association and never spoke to him either. I told my kids to let me know right away if they every said or did or tried anything with them. My wife called the lady a witch, and my younger Dusty one kept calling their place the witch's house. "The witch lives there," he would say.
We were in hockey rinks most of the winter. And then near the start of spring, the quarantine stay at home thing happened. Of course, I was very concerned about the virus, and as much as I was not crazy about them, I still kind of curiously checked for some activity or, I don't know, inactivity, next door. They mostly didn't come out and had someone come by every so often.
Late in March, we had a water main break near us. Not quite sure of what happened, but the water pressure all over the neighborhood increased, the pipes were hammering, and some broke. I had no idea what to do in that situation, and that is why I don't own a home nor do I want to. My wife called the owner, and I rushed outside. I saw another neighbor two houses down and found he was having the same issue. He didn't know what to do either. I had hoped the old man would know, so I knocked at his door. They were having the same problem, but they didn't know how what to do either. According to the owner, this kind of incident hadn't happened in fifteen or twenty years.
I ran all over the neighborhood - in slippers, and my feet were freezing. And I found that it was indeed happening all over. Eventually the fire department came. They turned on the hydrants to ease the tension. Through it all, I kept giving the neighbors updates, and they appreciated it.
Things were better after that. The old lady said she was okay with the kids playing outside, and that I didn't need to watch them every time. They would also say, "Hi, neighbor" and "Good morning" and all that. When the NASA launch in 2020 happened, they were both so excited about it, and made sure to stop and tell us about it. The old man was a sports star in his younger days. He had seen Rusty and I training every day, and of course saw the net and sticks and asked about hockey and where we play and other things. I said, "I'm just trying to get him ready for the season." He said, "Oh, he's ready!"
Around October, they decided to sell their house and move to Georgia. When they came back here one last time at Thanksgiving to get the last of their possessions, I told them, "I'm gonna give you guys credit for the voting turnout in Georgia." But they were busy and I'm not sure if they heard me. Later the old man gave me a push-up counting device thingy for my kid.
I hope they are doing well down there. That was a bad situation that could have gotten a lot worse. Once in a while, Dusty will still refer to next door as the witch's house. My wife will correct him and say, "No, no, baby, she is not a witch."
Hopefully the new neighbors will be cool. When the realtor was showing the house, we left our net and sticks out on our driveway for all to see. So I hope they know what they are getting into.
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