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What's Your Next-Door Neighbor Story?
Submit a next-door neighbor story—one story will be transformed into the final installment of our webcomic series, "Next-Door Neighbor":http://www.smithmag.net/nextdoorneighbor.
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By leftbehindonceagain 2 years ago Your weeds ate my dog
Call avoiding, weed cultivating slum landlord.
By WilsonWrites 2 years ago It gives you wings
A little over a year ago, I offered to help an elderly Indian woman in my building buy groceries. "Million thanks!" she looked up at me and said, holding my hand with both of her's. Since that day, I've brought her a gallon of whole milk and a loaf generic wheat bread every week. Sometimes she wants two boxes of strawberry Jell-o. Other times she wants three bananas. But every … Read more »This is an uncomfortable arrangement - to have the military man and his wine drinking wife just across the backyard for The Rest of Our Lives
Our next door neighbors are also the people who built this house in 1975. This is an uncomfortable arrangement - to have the military man and his wine drinking wife just across the backyard for The Rest of Our Lives. I immediately committed the sin of painting the walls with colors other than cream to match the cream carpet. After his paint choice disgust, I no longer invite them in. … Read more »Unwelcome
We moved into this house 16 years ago. The first thing one of our next-door neighbors said to me was, "We like this area because we all leave each other alone, and no one has to talk to anyone if they don't want to." In the following 16 years, this woman has called me about 3 times - to explain why her dogs were barking, to complain about … Read more »Did You Steal Our Cat?
Living in suburbia has a number of complicated maxims. You're expected to be friendly to your neighbor but let them maintain their privacy. We had a rough start with our neighbors, unfortunately, and they seemed to truly take this to heart. Over the next ten years there has been The Suburban Cold War: extremely passive aggressive, moments of friendliness, and always on the brink of a nuclear … Read more »
By Negative22 3 years ago Parke County Characters
We had a few neighbors, all old men: Pood Spurr, Pee-Wee Mosteller, and Hobe (pronounced like "hope" but with a "b") Martin. I'm not inventing these names for the sake of story; country folk tend to keep using the nicknames they were dubbed with as toddlers and never outgrew. But Hobe was my favorite. Or maybe Pood. Maybe Pee-Wee. Pood cooked one hamburger that covered the … Read more »
By KeepingThingsWhole 3 years ago The Good Neighbors
I lived next door to the worlds greatest neighbors. I mean, they were just so kind and honest and good to all those around them. But, then again, they were too good. Always "One-Upping" all the rest of us all the time. Gave my wife better gifts than I could afford to buy. And I guess I just got so mad... I...I don't know.On April 12, 2008, I … Read more »
"If you need anything just ask."
New neighbors moved in about a year ago.They told me, "If you ever need anything, just ask." My riding mower hasn't worked for a long time. I got a notice that it was covered in the Sears lawsuit. They had knowingly sold Lawn Mowers that were defective. Riding mowers are very expensive. Mine has been parked in the garage.I pay a friend to mow, which is expensive. The neighbor … Read more »
By JanetKay 3 years ago "If you need anything just ask."
New neighbors moved in about a year ago.They told me, "If you ever need anything, just ask." My riding mower hasn't worked for a long time. I got a notice that it was covered in the Sears lawsuit. They had knowingly sold Lawn Mowers that were defective. Riding mowers are very expensive. Mine has been parked in the garage.I pay a friend to mow, which is expensive. The neighbor … Read more »
"If you need anything just ask."
New neighbors moved in about a year ago.They told me, "If you ever need anything, just ask." My riding mower hasn't worked for a long time. I got a notice that it was covered in the Sears lawsuit. They had knowingly sold Lawn Mowers that were defective. Riding mowers are very expensive. Mine has been parked in the garage.I pay a friend to mow, which is expensive. The neighbor … Read more »
Only Witches. . .
"Only witches have that many cats."Following the voice, I glanced at the yard next door. A wrinkled crone was scowling in my direction. I smiled. Alarmed, she bustled back to her house.
When I caught her trying to poison my cats that afternoon, I took the tainted chicken away and made a sign in the air at her. She shrieked, backing away and crossing herself.
"Oh, … Read more »
Downstairs: Toddler; Upstairs: Loud Lesbian Sex
I live in a two-unit condo. My neighbors, a tranquil couple married with a young boy, live a quiet life on the first floor. I am the one upstairs.
By Maya_Stein 3 years ago Sounds of Life
Toddler cries... then giggles...I smile.Sounds of Life
Toddler cries... then giggles...I smile.lonely in the burbs
We moved to the suburbs away from a close-quartered, close-knit community of immigrants and locals about five years ago. School was 200 yards away, the subway just around the corner. My elderly neighbour on the left passed me tomatoes and roses and told us stories of the street back in 1952 when they bought their house for $2000. My neighbour on the right passed me peaches and swore in … Read more »I Couldn't Ask For Another
When I moved into my building four years ago, I swore my upstairs neighbor had stilettos welded to her feet and house music on repeat. I heard at all hours, but there were also long stretches of silence. It wasn’t overbearing, but enough that my chandelier would sometimes shake.I finally met my neighbor one evening when water suddenly began gushing from my bathroom ceiling. I ran upstairs to her … Read more »
By AshleyVB 3 years ago Hi, I'm Your New Neighbor and I Killed Your Dog
What a fantastic feeling. Pulling into my new driveway, opening my new garage with my new little garage opener, in my nice new neighborhood after a long day at work. We had only moved in a few months earlier and this was still such a little thrill for me.It was a hot, late September day. As I crossed the breezeway from the garage into … Read more »
By wileyriley 3 years ago New neighbor
A new neighbor; a new fence!The Thistle Lady
“Mary. I’ve been meaning to discuss an issue I have with you about the thistles. You see I have noticed that they have been growing in the park space and I have taken the opportunity to be pulling them out. I was just wondering if you thought about doing the same. It's for the children. Of course...”Mary looked at Debbie with a dazed incomprehension of what she was … Read more »
By DisforDamned 3 years ago Have a Next-Door Neighbor Story?
As part of our new webcomic, Next-Door Neighbor, we thought it appropriate to have a little contest. Tell us your best true next-door neighbor story, and the winning tale will be matched with an artist and transformed into a webcomic and included as the final installment of Next-Door Neighbor.
About Next-Door Neighbor
No matter how close or how far, we all live next to someone, and we all have a Next-Door Neighbor story. With that in mind, editor Dean Haspiel asked some of his favorite storytellers and cartoonists to create their favorite NDN stories so we could share them with you.
The Fine Print & Contest Rules
By submitting an entry, you are granting SMITH the right to reprint or republish that entry online or in print, as well as make any necessary edits. See SMITH's terms of service for complete details.
This contest ends September 1, 2008. Prizes are not redeemable for cash and must be accepted as awarded. Winners are decided at the discretion of SMITH judges and all decisions are final. SMITH reserves the right to change the contest rules. Enter as often as you want. SMITH reserves the right to reprint or republish all entries.
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