Could just be me, but I think my neighbour is preparing for doomsday. He moved in a week ago, single guy, early thirties, no family. And it’s a very big home for just one person, but he seemed really pleasant. I brought him a lasagna to say welcome to the neighbourhood and he almost teared up in gratitude. Maybe he hasn’t had many friends before?
Anyway, I didn’t think much of it until he started building the moat. What with all that news about lemurs and lifelike VR games and people jetting off to build palaces on the moon…things are rather strange around Melbourne. I know some property advocates since my husband is in the business, and they said that it was one of the most challenging homes they’d ever had to find. Fellow had a list of demands a mile long, so many that there just wasn’t a single place in Melbourne that came close to achieving the goal. Eventually he settled for here and said he’d take care of the rest…and I’m starting to see what ‘the rest’ means.
I don’t think property advocates have ever been asked to find a large home with space for a massive brick wall ringed with barbed wire. We used advocates to get this place; our requests were ‘big enough for a growing family, quiet location, not so palatial that it’ll take me a year to do the cleaning.’
I think we might’ve mentioned a pool. But this is something a little bit different, and I’m ever so slightly worried about where it’s going. Maybe he’s just terribly careful, and all of it is just me overreacting about someone who might be overreacting. Living in this neighbourhood, it’s all nice, but maybe all the walls and gates and intercoms are getting to my head and I’m seeing shadows in every corner. The property advocates covering Melbourne helped to find this place; I shouldn’t ruin it by silly paranoia. I’m sure our new neighbour is lovely.
Oh…I think those are piranhas he’s emptying into the moat…
-Gladys