A six-part story of a PTA-president mother, framed for drug possession
&quot;The sociopath next door&quot;<p>I read this, and I was honestly shocked anyone could be so petty.<p>That said, I have a weird story about a neighbor.<p>I&#x27;ll keep it short, and change some of the details.  I don&#x27;t think they would ever be on this site, but who knows?  They weren&#x27;t bad people, but they just suprised me.  Here goes--<p>Years ago a young couple moved in to a house adjacent to ours.  Nice young couple.  They even brought over a gift.  I thanked them, and said, &quot;If you need anything, I&#x27;m here a lot.  I&#x27;m self-employed right now.&quot;<p>They seemed to want me to know they were both Architects.<p>They must have told me three times they were both Architects--in a few minute conversation?<p>They were definetly a differnt generation than mine, and I remember the &quot;What do you do&quot; introductory questions.  I never liked them.  I remember really tiring of them them in the bar scene.  &quot;And  what do you do?&quot; I once told a young lady, I was a Proof reader in the pornography industry. Another, &quot;A professional Drinker.&quot;  Her, &quot;Ewe&quot;, or something like that.<p>Back to that first encounter, I figured they were just glad to be finished with school, and trying to network.  They were proud of their professions, and that&#x27;s fine.<p>I knew right away I had nothing in common with the male Architect.  We were just two different people.  I remember I was working on my car, and my hands were filthy. I knew he wasen&#x27;t the type of guy who ever got his hands dirty.  That&#x27;s fine, I&#x27;m just one of those guys.  I try not to pay people for stuffI can do myself, and I was always just getting by financially.  I couldn&#x27;t afford to hire anyone for anything.<p>There was just something about him, but I couldn&#x27;t put a finger on it.  Outwardly nice, but something seemed phoney.  
I was inwardly hoping they wouldn&#x27;t invite me over for any socials.  It turned out they weren&#x27;t social.<p>Anyway, I never gave them much thought.<p>In my neighborhood, we don&#x27;t know eachother. It might sound weird, but you get used to it, and kinda of begin to like it.<p>We shared a property line.  One day he wanted to replace a fence, but he claimed I was encroaching on his property line--by a few inches.  I was kinda shocked.  I asked him, &quot;How do you know?&quot;  Oh---I can just tell. You know, &quot;I&#x27;m an Architect?&quot;  Yea--I was shocked.  I felt like telling him, &quot;I&#x27;m an inactive general contractor&quot;, but dummied up.  He caught me off guard.   (I knew new when these houses were built, the set back linewas 5 feet, and 6 feet for two story homes.  He was in a one story ranch style home.  If anything, he was on our property?)<p>I told him get a survey, and put the fence wherever the line is.  I walked away thinking, that was kinda weird?<p>A few years went by.  He got a survey.  Never heard from him.<p>They had a kid.<p>Maybe five years went by, and I honestly forgot their names.<p>The then got another survey.  I think it was a friend of his, because he was helping--holding the markers, etc.<p>I knew I wasen&#x27;t on his property, but he seemed determined to get a survey proving me wrong.<p>A few more years went by.<p>They had another baby.<p>In all the years I lived next to them, we would wave, say hi on garbage day, but we really didn&#x27;t know eachother.<p>I just knew his wife worked, and he took care of the kids.  I thought that was great.  I thought he was a great father.  They were a great couple!  They seemed so normal.  Never a fight.  Just a quiet couple.  He liked to wear a tie though.  Never got that one.  Why wear a tie around the house?<p>One day, I was walking home from work, and saw a sign.<p>&quot;Free baby monitor.  It works.&quot;<p>I thought of my next door neighbors, and picked it up.<p>I knew I wasen&#x27;t going to knock on their door, but I might just put the monitor on their driveway.  Plus--I like to fix disgarded electronics, or see how they are made.  I was thinking of taking it apart to see how it was built, or maybe scavage any caps, resistors, etc.  They didn&#x27;t seem the type to have anything used, and I get that, but this baby monitor still had the stickers on it.  It didn&#x27;t look used.  Put shrink wrap on it, and it would be new.  I decided to keep it.  They probally would want it.<p>So, I&#x27;m at my workbench, and device this is just too nice to take apart.  I decide to give it to my neighbors.  I did want to test it before I put it one their property though.<p>It&#x27;s about 6 in the afternoon.   I turn it on, and I hear people talking.  &quot;Wow!!&quot; I was startled.  It literally scared me.  Then it kicked it; they must have a baby monitor, and it&#x27;s on the same channel?  Horrid security though!<p>I immediately turned it off, but I couldn&#x27;t help myself.  It was just so clear.  I was impressed with the radio&#x27;s frequency power.<p>So---I turned it back on.  I thought I will just listen a little bit.  I then heard my name.  I thought they couldn&#x27;t be talking about me.  We have talked maybe three times in 10 years?<p>But they were talking about me.  I heard, &quot;If he doesn&#x27;t shut that dog up, I&#x27;m going to call the humane society.&quot;  &quot;Did you see his hair lately?&quot;  &quot;Who&#x27;s that new girl that comes over late?&quot;<p>I was floored.  I didn&#x27;t think they knew my name.<p>I thought,  what are the odds they just happened to be talking about me at that point in time?  They must dislike me?  Or, they are people I will never quite &quot;get&quot;.<p>I honestly didn&#x27;t want to know, or listen.<p>I turned that radio off.  It really did hurt my feelings though. I actually thought they liked me.<p>Well--I threw the baby monitor away.<p>They ended up moving.  They see me sometimes at Safeway, and both have huge smiles. I wave back--hoping my hair looked o.k..   I get in my car, and try to smooch down my poofy hair.<p>Crazy people--crazy world?