I was young(er) and still feeling bulletproof.
Having just borrowed a house from the bank for a thirty year loan I was feeling like a responsible adultish sort of person.
Until I met the neighbor.
His name was Steve.
He had graduated from painting houses to dealing in a much more lucrative market.
The manufacture and sale of Meth.
He also taught Steve-kun-do.
The first time we met he told me how Bruce Lee himself peed himself in fear when faced with the mighty steve in battle mode.
Chuck Norris? Not a challenge for the Steve.
He had really bad skin.
I learned later that when you cook chemicals without the proper protective gear you can get residue buildup in your pores. It creates a sort of "plastic pimple" on exposed skin.
Nasty.
I like to keep to myself, let others leave me alone and I leave them alone.
Sort of.
It was the traffic that did me in.
A constant 24-7 flow of cars, foot traffic, vagrants and bicyclists would come to his kitchen window and trade grubby money for little plastic packets.
And the noise. Loud music, Loud cars, Mowing his lawn at 2am. Always the noise.
So I phoned the gendarmes.
This is when we discovered the boundary dispute.
We lived exactly on the border between M-city and S-city.
Neither of them wanted to come out, so they sent H-county cars.
Who didn't want to deal with it.
So they left.
And the traffic continued. Day and night.
So I asked him to stop.
Very nicely.
I even politely kicked on the front door, rather than knocking on the kitchen window.
I may have kicked a little harder then I meant to.
He called the cops on me.
Who showed up and informed me, whilst the traffic never abated, that since there was no "proof" of my erstwhile neighbor dealing drugs that there was nothing they could do.
Oh, and if you bother the Steve again, you get a ticket.
So I pondered.
Shoot him? Torch his house?Accidentally run over him? Squish him?
options and options.
I was at a loss.
So I called about the noise. Every night.
He started getting tickets. Warnings. He would cast me dark looks.
I am afraid I was not subtle.
Standing in front of steves house with a cell phone at 1am calling the cops.
He received a FINAL warning.
It only took a month.
Jail for noise violation if he had one more call.
So he got quiet.
Really quiet.
Damn it all.
The problem was beginning to look insurmountable.
It was solved, miraculously, by the sweet Dutch lady down the road.
She called Protective Services.
Apparently, the Steve had a six year old child in the house.
So, they came, they saw, they took the kid. The policia took the Steve and I figured all was well.
Nope.
The Steve had a Lawyer.
A really good one.
He was out and cooking again in less than 24 hours.
But he got smarter.
He moved into his garage/karate studio in the back yard.
He rented the house to these nice young men.
College age.
Quiet. Polite. Respectful.
Best neighbors we ever had.
The traffic continued to some extent, but since it was going into the backyard and off the street.
Well, live and let live.
Until 3am one morning when the SWAT team raided the house, shot one of the nice young men and let the dog use the other one as a chew toy.
They were cooking for steve.
He escaped. In the confusion and amidst the growling and screaming the steve got away.
At 4am I was out talking to the coppers.
What could I do?
Could I get steve evicted?
Well.
In a word. No.
He owned the house.
They really didn't have much on him.
And he had a really good Lawyer.
So.
The next day, under the cover of a bright noon day sun.
I took his electric meter. I turned off the water and the gas and put padlocks on them.
I took a hammer drill and three inch screws and fastened every single door, window and opening shut.
Then I stripped all the screws.
That night steve tried to break into his own house.
I let him play for about an hour. Banging and Cursing and generally making a lot of noise.
Until he had a fine froth of rage going.
Then I called the cops.
Who arrived just in time to see steve, in a meth induced frenzy of stupidity, trying to beat his own front door in with a decorative rock.
he was making a lot of noise.
They say confession is good for the soul.
I say, only after the statue of limitations is up.
Don't mess with us
evil-doers beware
