Something Strange

Our new neighbour was a spellbinding presence on our street...

MYRTLE CRAGGITT is a good neighbour in a lot of ways.

We're never disturbed by noise from her house, and she keeps her garden neat.

She doesn't go out to work, which makes her useful for taking in parcels.

She doesn't drive, which leaves room for both of our cars on the shared driveway.

She even put out our bins and watered our hanging baskets while we were on holiday.

Are you expecting a but?

We certainly were from the way Mr and Mrs Smith, the people we bought the house from, spoke about her.

"It's a quiet, trouble-free street," Mrs Smith told us.

She pointed in the direction of Myrtle's half of the property.

"The neighbourhood watch sees to that."

At least, that's what I assumed she'd said at the time.

When we asked if there had been disagreements over the boundary fence or anything like that, they were rather too eager to assure us that wasn't the case.

"Myrtle Craggitt is very helpful," Mr Smith replied.

"Very neighbourly." I took that to mean a bit pushy. Nosy, even.

Janice, my wife, agreed that was how it sounded, and thought maybe Myrtle was a bit lonely.

"If we talk to her, perhaps have her round for coffee, I'm sure we'll soon make friends."

We both thought the Smiths were pushy and desperate when they insisted the sale had to go through before the end of October.

We'd have happily complied if we could.

We were eager to move from our noisy flat into somewhere with a garden, and taking the kids trick or treating in the street would be a nice way to get to know our new neighbours.

We simply couldn't, though. There was a chain preventing our buyers from moving until very early in November.

The Smiths decided to move out anyway and left the house empty for five days.