Neighbors

Part 3: Introductions

"Mom! Mom!" Both girls kept screaming.

"I'm coming, just one second" I was trying to wipe down the table after our Sunday lunch but the girls really wanted to go outside so apparently I had to work quicker. Ben had fallen asleep, and yes I was angry but I would swallow that anger like a good wife and let him sleep. He worked so hard and he did it for the family, he deserves to sleep I told myself.

"Mom?" My youngest tugged at my sleeve.

"Yeah sweety" I looked down at her, for all the things that burden me, my kids would never be one of them. Sure, they took a lot but they didn't leave me with a feeling of anger or animosity.

"Is it true that the neighbors have a pool?" I had not spent a lot of time thinking about any pools, but I had spent a lot of time thinking about our neighbors. It was like living next door to a parallel universe. They seemed so out of place here, I loved it. They made me feel like I wasn't the only one who might not belong here. I did feel like that a lot, like I don't belong. I always have. I feel like I faked my way into my own life, but how could I ever tell anyone about that?

"I don't know. Why are you asking sweety?"

"I want to go swimming" Well, at least she knew what she wanted and tried to find a way of reaching her goals. She was like her father in that aspect.

"I don't think we can just borrow their pool, we don't know them. Would you let just anybody who came to our door play with your stuff in your room?" She looked like she understood my point.

"I guess not" She looked sad then she smiled. "What if I knew them? If I go over there and become friends with them then I can go swimming anytime" She looked at me expectantly. I mean, yeah but that's not really how it works. Try telling a 5 year old that.

"I don't know if we can expect them to let us use the pool... But we can go over and say hello. Would you like that?" I had been wondering about the neighbors and this was as good of a chance as any to get the introductions over with. I had waved at the man a couple of times but the woman, she was an enigma. We had shared some time together on Tuesdays, but that was just pure coincidence...

The girls were excited to go and make new friends, they were good with people so this was actually not the worst thing I could be doing on a Sunday. We walked up the steps and knocked on the big double doors. I don't think that I had realized just how big this house was until now. It was two stories just like our house but it seems like their ceilings must be higher than ours because this was like a mansion. A big white mansion. I had heard the neighbors talk about what eyesore the house was when it was built a couple of years back. I would never say anything but a lot of their houses were uglier.

The door opened and there she was. The woman on the balcony was no longer just a creature confined to that space a few hours one day a week, like me and the porch, she was a real person. A beautiful person. A beautiful person in a bikini. I tried not to look at her too much but her body was amazing, objectively speaking. Her hair was perfect, this was a woman who definitely went to a saloon at least once a month, maybe every three weeks. I was not that kind of woman. When I started thinking about it, I hadn't had a proper haircut in what... A year. I felt self conscious

"Well isn't this a nice surprise? The woman from the porch, and who did you bring with you?" She smiled, she has a nice smile as well. Straight teeth, white but not fake white if you know what I mean. I realized that I was staring. I didn't even reflect on the title "the woman from the porch". I snapped out of it.

"Hi, so... Hi I'm Charlotte" She smiled at me. "And this is Julie and Chris" Julie was the older and more introverted. Chris was the younger. Chris' real name was Christine but she hated it so she had been Chris since the age of 3. Mia crouched down and reached out her hand to shake theirs, I think it is a nice gesture when grownups treat children like real people. They both shook it.

"I'm Mia" She smiled. It was a perfect name for her. She stood up again. "What brings you over this sunny Sunday afternoon" I liked the way she spoke, her voice was raspy and the words flowed out in a slow but not too slow manner.

"Well I wanted to swim in your pool but mom said that we couldn't because we don't even know you. So I am here to get to know you" Chris said with the confidence only a child can have. I got red as a tomato and took a deep breath. Mia laughed.

"It sounds like you have a smart kid on your hand" She looked at me. "Well Chris, what is your favorite color?"

"Blue"

"I like purple" I would have guessed red, maybe it was because of the hair.

"And what is your favorite thing to do?"

"I like to play in the woods, sometimes I build houses and sometimes I fight the boys" We had some problems with Chris. She had beaten some boys up after they destroyed the 'house' she had spent weeks building. The boys were older but she had literally beaten them with a stick.

"I like the woods too" Something in her eyes glimmered, like joy maybe?

"How about you Julie"

"Well I like pink, but you don't get to make fun of me. It is a nice color..." She looked down as if embarrassed. I'm afraid she gets that from me. "And I like riding my bike, I am really good I think, and I can do it with no hands now"

"Wow, I don't think I can do that anymore, I used to" Mia smiled. "Why would you get made fun of for liking a color?" This is not the conversation I thought we would have on the steps of the huge house with the woman on the balcony in a bikini. A bikini I tried really hard to not notice.

"The girls in my class say that I should pick another, that it is babyish to like pink" Mia looked like she was thinking hard.

"Well, I think that is stupid" She said with confidence. "Did you know that a long time ago, I think in the mid 18th-century, pink was a color both men and women wore and it was super popular with the aristocrats. They thought it symbolized luxury, I think that is pretty cool" Julie smiled, my heart could do a backflip. I could kiss her. Wait what? That is just an expression. She made my kid happy so I was happy. Julie struggled with what others thought of her, and things like this mattered to her.

"I didn't know that" She blushed.

"I bet the people calling it babyish don't either. Although it shouldn't matter, you like it right?" She nodded, Mia then looked at me again "and knowing what you like is important" A shiver went down my spine.

"Well, I think we know each other, don't you?" Both kids nodded so hard I thought their heads might fall off. I didn't think that things could go so well. This is not the outcome I expected at all.

"Go get your bathing suits then. I am going swimming" She winked at them. The girls pretty much ran back to our house. I should bring Ben, I knew that we were two adults but water scared me, drowning was really common and I don't think people talk about that as much as they should.

"You got some nice kids there Charlotte" My name sounded so beautiful coming out of her mouth.

"They're ok" She laughed, like a proper laugh. She almost looked shocked herself. We looked at each other.

"Well... Go and get changed or are you swimming in that?" She smiled mischievously.

"Actually, is it ok if I bring Ben?" She looked a little confused. "My husband, sorry, I was unclear"

"Of course" She smiled and something in her glimmered again. "But no pets" She winked and turned to go back into her house. We don't have pets I wanted to say, then I realized that it was a joke. I turned and walked home. This was not what I expected... At all.

A/n: So tomorrow is my last day of vacation. I will try to not let this impact my upload schedule and get my writing done on company time ;) but if my chapters are a bit shorter after Sunday, you know why.

/N