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Comfy After Dark

I hopped over the fence to the little apartment building next door. 

About half of the twelve units are vacant now. The university campus moved downtown and all of the college students who were living around here have mostly cleared out. 

Some haven't.

There’s one nice old lady who lives in the unit right next to our house on the first floor and she loves the boys and even added Eri as a Facebook friend. She gave us handmade masks when the pandemic started and she's as friendly as could be. She works at an old folks home and even when she's super tired after her shift she stops to talk with Kenzo and Osamu about whatever they happen to be doing outside, whether it's splashing water or messing around with lizards.

Right above her, however, on the second floor and right across from our bedroom window, there’s a leftover college student who has gotten a bit noisier over the past six months. 

Now that it's officially rainy season/summer the weather is warming up and everyone has their windows open, especially at night when the heat tapers off and it's cooler. It's humid and there's almost no breeze most nights, but it's nothing a good oscillating fan can't cover. Plus with the ceiling fan downstairs we keep the house pretty comfy after dark.

College kids are the same wherever you go. The one next to us seems to have little to no self-awareness about how noisy he is, especially at night when his friends are over and his windows are open and they've got the TV or video games going.

I've been that guy, so I can't be too judgemental.

However, I have to watch out for my family and my community, and I have zero problem with calling the police box to have some cops come around and let them know that they’re causing a neighborhood disturbance. 

My first instinct is actually to just walk next door, knock, and give the look. The look that says, "Dude, it's after midnight, you know who I am, I ain't mad, I was 20 years old one time, but seriously let's just close the window and keep it down or else call it a night."

Eri decided we should call the building manager, so today I snuck up to the second floor of the building and got the apartment number and then I took a picture of the sign on the front that has the management company's name and phone number on it. Eri called and explained and they were very understanding and said they would notify all the tenants to have better manners. That's the best they can do. Notify all the tenants. Better than nothing.

We shall see. I've got the police box on speed dial. Eri doesn't want me knocking on doors in the middle of the night.

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