The Redheaded Step Child

You just know that smells bad

I live in a very odd neighborhood. Ninety nine percent of the homes around us are waterfront and expensive. Then you have our street. We are the redheaded step child of the neighborhood. I'm not complaining, it makes things a little interesting in this boring land of eternal summer. One of my favorite bizarre behaviors of a neighbor, of all time, was when the lady across the street warned me not to walk my dog Chandler to the end of the street. She said it wasn't safe, and that she had been watching aliens from outer space hanging around down there all night. Unfortunately for her, she has ended up in an institution down in Miami, her dog was picked up by animal control and killed, and her husband lost everything and has been living in the bushes around town. Which brings me to another neighbor. When this neighbor moved in next door I planted a row of palms to protect me from the view of his various boats, and his cars and trucks on jacks. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. I just don't like looking at his property. This morning I noticed my dogs were very curious about something on the other side of the fence. So curious that they commenced barking at the gate nearest the front parking area. It wasn't until I took them for a walk later that I noticed that one of the neighbor's boats was gone. In its place was a white SUV, and a tent. Somebody had pitched a tent right in my neighbor's front yard. I looked things over and it seems that somebody is living in the tent. For now I'll let things be, because I really don't know the story. I don't know if it's temporary, or maybe an act of charity for some homeless person, I just don't know. What I do know, is that the person living in the tent is either a young man with long hair who wears some kind of weird hat, or it's a woman. A very rough looking woman.