Member-only story
The Thing that Happened to My Snooping Neighbour
Rustling paper, tearing, ripping, followed by the flop of a heavy envelope landing on my desk made me realise that I wasn’t really alone in my little room.
I had just woken up. It was deepest winter and my whole body, including my head, was hidden under the Swedish quilt that was big enough to cover a horse.
I pulled back the quilt, just enough to see into the room. I saw a dark figure, a man, he stood with his back to me. He was shuffling a stack of my letters as he stood by the window. He scrutinizing the letters for clues.
As my eyes adjusted to the daylight, I saw that he was my neighbour who lived one floor above.
I wasn’t afraid. He was looking at my mail, and he used his fingers to open each letter, then snoop at the contents. I didn’t think he had weapon, he wasn’t that type.
When ever I’d talk to friends of mine, I’d refer to him as, “My Idiot Neighbour Klaus”.
I watched him, some letters interested him more than others. He stooped as he read the addresses, a shift of his neck and he was looking at the date in the top right corner. Next thing, the sound of the adhesive tearing away from the paper, a little gasp of breath, and the flip of paper as he spread the letter out in front of him.
I could see he was reading a hand written letter. I knew which one. That upset me.
I watched him for at least two minutes before I got up from my bed. I stood up in underwear and tee shirt. I noticed that he’d separated the letters into two piles on the desk in front of the window.
He was concentrating hard on reading the address on an envelope in his hand, he held it up close to his face, adjusting the distance for his focus. He shook its contents, then he groaned loudly. He seemed to lose interest, he threw it onto one of the two piles.
I knew he was a gossipy man. Anything else I knew about him was that he was a retired dancer, slim framed, he used camp gestures like fishing bait, it depended on who he was talking to as to how much bait he put on the hook. He always wore eye liner. I think he believed it made him more…
