I mentioned in one of these archives about a new neighbour shifting in the house next door, and apparently whom I thought to be the new neighbour was in fact the landlady who'd rented out the house and sure enough new neighbours did move in.
Now this new neighbour whom I happened to meet very briefly before leaving for a month long India visit was not Chinese. Her accent didn't give away much of her country of origin but it seemed American. She told me her name, her son's name and that they'll be getting a dog this Christmas.
Alright I thought. This was a bit of a chance encounter since she was moving in and I just happened to be outside cleaning my doormat.
After this small forgettable little meet I was gone for a month and now here is where it gets interesting, for last week I happened to meet her son.
I was lighting tea lights at the entrance way when the mother son duo came up climbing.
For some reason I always found the mother to be a bit evasive. She'd avoid meeting, or even saying hi if no one was looking and making a beeline towards her door with the barest of greeting, this however wasn't the case with her son.
He greeted me with an affable smile and peered inside my house through the slightly open door. A gesture his mother was quick to notice and with a stern voice she called out to him beckoning him indoors, but this kid was just too curious and with a wide smile he crept closer to my door at which point his mom's voice grew ice and the kid obviously scared ran back in to his house.
She apologized to me, I said it was alright and then she added that her son's too friendly.
Alright I said and she was quick to shut her door. Ok then.
Next day around evening time my doorbell suddenly rang and there was the kid again. Beaming as a kid of seven would beam and asked if he could come in.
Now his accent was a dead giveaway and I knew instantly it was British.
Alright I said come on in.
His house door was ajar and it looked like they'd only just come back home from the day.
He saw my iPad and urged me to download a game called 'Tom gold run' which I did after which he began playing the game and I proceeded with my cooking.
A soft knock on my door and his mother was standing throwing daggers at her son.
He looked at her and grinned and ran out of my house and implored his mother to spend some time in my house to play.
Of course I didn't mind, I've kids coming in my house all the time. Like my Taiwanese friends, but the mother for obvious reasons wasn't too keen.
'You don't know these people' she said, and it kind of irked me the way she put it, but her son cleverly replied 'i know her and she's nice'..( that was sweet) Almost beseeching he begged her to let him come to my house to which she replied 'two minutes' and the kid ran back in to play the game.
(I know this is a long post but hang on)
Now this kid was well spoken, well mannered and totally into that game and our only conversation was about 'Tom gold run', but soon his mom was calling again and he went back, after which she briefly and quickly thanked me for indulging him while in the process of closing her door.
Hmm..I thought.
Next day he was inside my house at the same time.
This time my neighbour didn't seem to mind all that much, though she did get upset with him for ringing my bell again, but that was that.
Half an hour later she called for him to come back, a couple well meaning countdowns and icy voice later the kid was gone.
Now comes Saturday.
Around 3pm I heard dragging noise outside my door and promptly after that the bell rang. It was the kid dragging a large cardboard box into my house asking me if I could help him do something with it.
I looked outside and his house door was ajar, which meant his mother gave him permission to do so, probably that she was listening too since my door was wide open as well.
I asked him if he'd like a fort to which he jumped, flailed his arms and nodded his head profusely in reply.
I told him to come on Sunday for I was just about leaving for a movie and he was back in my house on Sunday.
Right, from all these chance meetings and odd encounters I'd gathered that she was single mother probably undertaking a teaching job.
I noticed while making him a fort that the kid was a lot more jittery and weirder than usual; a common symptom of having eaten too much sugar and on being asked he told me he'd eaten two ice creams.
While I was cutting away and gluing things to make a cardboard fort he began randomly telling me, like a rhyme how he was living in the UK, then in South Africa and now in Shanghai.
Ok, I was listening to his non stop prattle when he suddenly said 'you want to kill my mom?'
I nearly dropped the scissors. What? I asked? He began laughing and jumping about the living room screaming 'My neighbour wants to kill my mum'
This was most bizarre I tell you. I'm not mentally equipped to handle these situations and the kid just kept talking about death, murder, how he wants to bury people in his new fort, how his neighbour wants to kill his mum, how he is going to dig graves etc.
Mind you all this while I was attaching a roof to that bloody fort.
Now I know kids are given to weird flights of fancy.
My younger brother as a kid often spoke about lopping off his head to turn into a ghost but listening to a child in close proximity go on about murdering people, asking me about my intentions to killing his mom and repeating this endlessly was most extraordinary. I'm hardly accustomed to such talks.
After a while it got to me and I told him simply that I'll have to talk to his mum about what he was saying. That scared him and he was quiet but then like a child that he is he began laughing and a few moments later started it again.
I finished with his fort and dragged it to his house myself, with that kid in tow and presented him and the fort to his mother.
She asked her son to thank me and within moments closed and locked the door and this added to all the oddness this entire day was about.
I mean she looked so vary of exchanging words, and this is what's weird.
Suddenly she's fine with her son coming and building a fort with me, two days prior to which she'd told him 'you don't know these people'.
Her son randomly plonks his ass in his neighbours house having them build him a fort and she won't even as much as have anything in the way of conversation.
Not that I care about it much, but it's just basic decorum.
It just struck me as she wasn't too keen on getting known and that's ok. A lot less small talk in future but at that time it was almost sort of fishy.
This entire episode didn't add up.
- would anyone with a young kid move as much? country to country?
-what's with murder talks all the time? Perhaps just a kid thing?
-what's with all the secrecy and evasiveness.
- why didn't she help him build that fort?
- did she deliberately change her accent?
There's a mystery to this whole thing, though it might not be that interesting but it has my curiosity piqued and now I've begun keeping a close watch to their activities.
They leave their home at 6:30 am which is pretty early, so I guess she's got a teaching job.
They come back home exactly 12 hours later at 6:30pm. She comes in stealthily so as not to get noticed and as soon as her son makes noise she shushes him down and within moments enter and lock their door.
No other signs of activity.
No food deliveries, no package deliveries.
(I know this post is awfully long but I had to get this off my chest)
Isn't it intriguing?
I'm going to find out more. Imma Sherlock this as best as I can.
Soon..
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