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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 mpcmedia 4 years ago Keggers
We were in college. They dragged a keg out onto the metal grate walkway that ran between the apartments. Big, brawny, strapping meatheads would gather on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, drinking. The metallic crash of empty beer cans against the asphalt and the snapping of crumpled red plastic solo cups rang out into the night. I would watch them from my window, wishing I was there … Read more »That Opossum Isn't Playing Possum
A man's well cared for and loved garden is both a source of pride and oft consternation. Several years ago, my patch of tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and collards produced a bumper crop much to my delight. Without warning, but not entirely unexpectedly, evidence of an unwanted night visitor began to appear in my happy veggie haven. Small bits and pieces missing at first soon turned … Read more »
By Nogginspot 4 years ago The Neighbor From the Mob
I was still in college at the time so I only came home as a rarity. One week, I came home for a break to find that we had a new neighbor for the first time in ten years. Unfortunately for us, this new neighbor was a nightmare. It started out with him purposefully literally mowing the DIRT, causing a windstorm of dust to envelop our backyard … Read more »Little Dude
Your room mate moved to Houston leaving you with the rent to pay and the dog to feed. You called the puppy Little Dude or Little Guy, and he became you friend. Little Dude was taken by his first owner while you were at your second job, wish they had an Amber Alert for puppies.
By tymberr 4 years ago Kitty
My neighbor's cat ate my goldfish.
By Jeanette_Cheezum 4 years ago My Living Room Is Thumping
Will you please turn down your bass?Where do you go?
Where do you go when your house is destroyed by a devastating tornado? Next door to me. The ending to their story is nothing like Dorthy's, there is no yellow brick road to follow or red shoes to click. Just the run down, paved road leading to the empty shell the owner calls their house. Their furniture is borrowed from good friends and family and they're rarely home at all. … Read more »
By A_Scattered_Mind 4 years ago You know Frank? He's legally blind.
My wife and I moved to our new house over the summer. It's perfect, just what we wanted, good location, good neighbors, good schools, all that stuff. We had been living apart for 18 months because of a job relocation and actually living together full time was like the proverbial first time all over again. Anyway, as the first week or so went by in our new house, we introduced … Read more »Crazy Coyote Neighbor
Joan Burney was like a grandmother to me. She has been my next door neighbor for all of my life. She’s a shorter woman, with short blonde hair and a crazy flair for nature; which is different than my family who are city based. Her grandkids live far away and are much younger than me and my brother so Mrs. Burney was like our adopted Grandmother.When I visited … Read more »
Blood in the Snow: The Deinstitutionalization of "Princess Anne"
"Good morning, Princess Anne," I'd say as we passed on the steps of the shabby apartment house where we both lived . Princess Anne was my neighbor for a couple of years in a northeast city, a cold city blanketed in snow from November into March. I was a twenty-something student/cocktail waitress. Until the shots crackled and the blood droplets appeared on the snow, I didn't think much about Princess … Read more »
By GailWriteOnTime 4 years ago Your sex is becoming my sex
I lived in a Philadelphia apartment building that was built in the 1920s. It was charming--there was a fireplace, hardwood floors and my bedroom windows opened out into a lovely peaceful courtyard filled with big trees, old rhododendrons and huge holly shrubs. I loved my apartment...during the day.At night, I dreaded going to bed. However, each night, hope for change sprung eternal. A single woman in my late … Read more »
Just sit back and speak sorry.
Hold the flushing, please!
I got to know our next-door neighbors through their excrement. A few months ago, the whole buildings plumbing broke. The building is comprised of four apartments, two on the bottom floor and two on the top. Mine is the bottom left, and seems to bare the brunt of each apartment malfunction, so when the plumbing broke my two bathtubs and toilets overflowed with communal urine/sewage. Our landlord was slow to … Read more »What Goes On Over There?
Our neighbors don't say 'hi' to us or anyone. He runs. She works. They have a daughter who is special, Kayla. Are they sad, afraid, embarassed, or just above us? Maybe they judge us; hearing us yell, fight, and fuck. I never hear a sound from them. Sometimes the lights are on at 6:00 am. Sometimes the lawnmower runs early in the morning. … Read more »My Phantom Samaritan
I joined the Navy in 1986, and was sent to a destroyer in Norfolk, Virginia. My ship was in drydock so I had to live off base, and I hastily decided to move downtown, to a mysteriously cheap, furnished one-bedroom in a renovated pre-war building. I seemed to be the only tenant; coming and going from the marble lobby with its polished brass mailboxes, I never saw a … Read more »3213
I grew up in an old ”leafy” suburb of Washington DC. Everyone’s father was some kind of government official or lawyer. One house was different that the others.My next door neighbor David was my best friend and his sister Mary was my sister's. They were wild and fearless. They had no grass on their “lawn”. Two vicious Rhodesian Ridgebacks patrolled the dirt back yard.
Read more »
Creepshow
For 12 years I rented a 3 bedroom 1-story house in Granada Hills. The duplex next door was owned by an elderly lady and her daughter, who were both very nice. When the lady's health began to fail, she decided to sublet the side of the duplex that was next to us - right outside my kitchen. Her daughter stayed on in the other half. Eventually the one half got … Read more »
By Marcia64 4 years ago Hi, I'm Mark, the Creepy Neighbor
“Hi, I’m Mark, the weird, creepy neighbor, “ is how Mark introduced himself, as he pushed his way passed me into my housewarming party. He had his dog with him, a ninety-five pound Golden Doodle. He forced his way to the back porch where the kegs were, and I thought, oh well, the more the merrier. Except Mark wasn’t very merry. He managed to creep out … Read more »The Fightin' Renters
... were a lesbian couple with a volatile relationship and a nasty nicotine habit. Their constant arguments, and constant cigarette smoke, would spill over into our apartment. “Sarah” flew off the handle during many of their loud, violent fights, and made sure everyone heard.We’d be sitting at home any given evening, and muffled yelling would come from the other side of the wall. It would escalate, … Read more »
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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