One neighbor makes me think of Norma Desmond, in "Sunset Boulevard."
You reach a certain point in life, and things seem "settled"; the substantial changes now seem to be in the rearview mirror. But my neighbor divorced at fifty, assumed sole custody of his children, and began dating an unemployed (and essentially adolescent) bartender.
My neighbor likes drama. His bartender drives too fast on the back road, and when this causes a furore, my neighbor does *not* quietly apologize. Instead, he sends an email blast: "The allegation of speeding is false. It's not even possible to speed, if you're going up a hill that steep..."
Also, my neighbor regularly evicts the bartender--but then a tearful reconciliation occurs--and housing arrangements are readjusted--and the cycle begins once again.
There is some thoughtless groupthink in my neighborhood; when one family requested GoFundMe contributions to help with a small "property issue," several people expressed enthusiasm (perhaps from a desire to seem nice). Only one person dissented: my neighbor. Basically, he wrote to forty families: "This proposition is absurd."
My neighbor is not the most popular person on my street--but I suspect he doesn't care. I imagine, right now, he is adjusting his turban, preparing for one high-stakes meeting, after another, after another. I can say anything I want with my eyes!
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