FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... the neighbors (Part 150a)
After a
somewhat ‘rocky’ start to our relationship upon their arrival in the
Summer we’d reached a point of almost being friends as Winter
approached. It was mostly because of the kids... theirs and ours... that
it had evolved. Their girls, Mo and Barbara, seemed to have ‘adopted’
our girls and through that, over time, Elle got to know and accept their
mother, Phyllis. I say “accept” because she was a hard woman to get to
know and/or like. She ran her day care out of the basement of our church
and was seldom home before 6pm. Bill, the father/husband, was the new
principal at the school and spent most of his time working there. I made
a couple of attempts at getting to know him by offering help when there
had been some problems on and around the property but he never followed
up. Elle would sometimes see Phyllis on weekends and very occasionally in the
evenings after supper. When we were asked to house Barbara for a weekend
while the rest of the family visited relatives and Mo made some college
visits it was quite a surprise but, after doing it things became a lot
more friendly. That’s why, when Lisa’s father told us about them moving
by July, we were so surprised. In spite of Elle’s curiosity as to the
reason, I prevailed upon her to let it be and told her that when they
were comfortable in telling us, they would.
At work,
traditionally the day before the busy period was slow. But with the
conversion due to take place on that upcoming weekend and all the chaos I had to
deal with having both the old and new teller machines on the banking
floor... it wasn’t. I distinctly remember spending a lot time on the
phone with the service bureau talking to Albie or George, their
computer room manager. The last person I wanted to see was J J, from
upstairs. Whenever he wanted to talk with me during banking hours I
could count on him wanting something that could wait until the doors
closed. I tried to wave him away but he just hung by my desk. As soon as
I hung the phone up he asked if I’d been looking at the lobby traffic
over the past 15 or so minutes. I remember answering in a less than
cordial manner that I didn’t have time to survey lobby traffic. I’m sure
he was waiting for me to ask why but I didn’t. Then, rather smugly, he told
me that the principal of our school and his wife had just applied for a
mortgage. Because I wan’t in the mood for his ‘games’ I didn’t pick up
on it right away. I was about to tell him I had more important things to
do at that moment when it was like a light bulb went on in my brain. It took me back to the wedding reception and when Lisa’s father told me they
would be moving. THAT, got my attention!
My first question to
him was where the property was located. When I did, J J got a big smile
across his Irish face. His answer was that I’d go by it every time I’d
go to visit Elle’s or my parents. I knew there was only one housing
development on the way there so that narrowed it down by a lot. I
responded by naming the development and he nodded affirmatively. When
the roads were cut to start the project Elle and I were still in high
school. Here it was some fifteen years later and it still hadn’t been
built out. One of the reasons was that the developer was rather
unscrupulous. He’d been sued many times over misrepresentations he made
concerning the lots in the development. He’d made ‘adjustments’ after
the court ruled against him on any number of cases but one family
wouldn’t accept his offer and wanted their money back as well as
‘damages’. He had no money so, with a plea to the court, had agreed to
sell the three remaining lots at an “Absolute Auction”. That's when the
seller has to take the highest bid and can’t bid on the property to
increase the value. I had no interest so hadn’t followed it all that
closely relying on Elle’s mother to give an update from time to time.
From
what J J told me, Bill and Phyllis made a bid on one of the properties
and had won. I knew the location of all three so asked J J which one it was. All he could give me was the lot number from back when the
property was subdivided. That was of no use to me. I do remember taking a
deep breath and questioning my judgement when I asked if I could see
the plot plan. Up in his office the plans for the house were rolled up against J J’s desk
but the plot plan was right on top of it. I know I laughed when I saw
it.
As kids, Elle, I, her brother and many of our friends played
in the woods that made up the majority of the property in the
development so I pretty much knew the topography of the land. That
parcel was in what would be considered “lowlands” in many parts of the
South. In fact, in today's world, the EPA would never have allowed a
building to be erected on it. That was one negative. Another had to do
with the road that intersected the one the house would be located on.
At night, every car that would be leaving from the bay front community
where Elle’s and my parents lived plus all those who lived on the road
leading to it would be coming to a stop right across from it. And...
their headlights would be trained right on the front of the house. The
third was that for water everyone had to drill a well. The plumber I
used after buying my house lived just down the road from that property
and he’d told me that it was a good thing he had well driving equipment.
I don’t know how long I spent talking with J J but I know it
was too long. I gave him all the background on the property I had wanting to make sure
the bank was protected should it decide to give the mortgage to Bill and
Phyllis. As I left his office I didn’t know what to do about telling
them since they were now the owners of the property. They should’ve
known all that prior to the auction but, because the property came with
no guarantees, it was a ‘buyer beware’ situation. Even though I was busy
for the rest of the day I couldn’t erase the thought of the bad
situation the neighbors were in. It was not a good feeling.
To be continued...
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