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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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Neighbor commits suicide,maintenance must clean.
By SimpleSensations 3 years ago True Love in War
When Gilman Hamer died of Cancer in 2006, he left his Austrian beauty, Renate, across the street from my house, and all alone. She was so small that day, the day I crossed the street and walked up the driveway past her immaculate garden of Cosmos and Sunflowers, to see how Gilman was feeling. Her hair, usually tightly curled and pinned back with two little silver combs, was … Read more »
By Marlaina 3 years ago
Thinks I'm un-american; I voted blue.
By bcgirl 3 years ago My neighbor the Opera singer.
My downstairs neighbor is an opera singer. So, every morning she wakes up and practices her scales. She doesn't have the vocal range of Minnie Riperton. However, there have been a few times where I debated calling the police as it sounds like someone is screaming or a cat is trapped in a woodchipper. I do have to admire her work effort. They say, practice makes perfect - I've lived … Read more »
By shazbennett 3 years ago Sleeper Cell
It was three a.m. and the station wagon was packed to the gill. The mother, son, two daughters crammed all of their belongings into the U-haul and waved goodbye as the father dropped to his knees and prayed to Allah. Yes, these were my neighbors. Escaping like thieves in the night. No none in the neighborhood really knows what happened to them. Periodically some one sees a small light on … Read more »
By anglophilereads 3 years ago The Flaunting Chickens
You could say it all started when we got the call. Grandpa had died and we had gotten the family farm. Our farm was huge and quite historic, much like the rest of the neighborhood. One house imparticular stood out from the others. It was our neighbor across the road, Jane. She was my grandma's old-fashioned best friend. Our moving put an end to their daily visits, causing Jane to … Read more »
By lost_in_thought. 3 years ago lost friend
I used to walk at night times in our street and I always saw one man who walked with his cute puppy. They were playing while walk in street light. It was so funny. I was saying hello to him many times when we crossed streets but one day when I walked I saw puppy was running fast on the curb and some people try to catch him up. … Read more »
By desoul 3 years ago "I need my pants..."
The neighbor who lived in the studio beneath mine had her boyfriend move in, and they were a disturbingly dysfunctional couple. One memorable event evolved from him slipping out to retrieve the Sunday morning paper at the building entry, and her locking the apartment door behind him, leaving him in nothing but boxers out in the hall.For literally HOURS, he knocked, threatened, pleaded, cajoled for her to let … Read more »
By aperte 3 years ago 
By pincusb 3 years ago Snuck Out.
Sneaking out of the house to run and play at the park. Its around midnight. Wiggums hollow park was a few blocks away. To the basketball court my friends and i ran to. meet some guys near by, never met them before. we all introduced ourselfs. Tracy, briana, Tiffani, and abby we said. i looked closely and i saw that there was my next door neighbor. How awkword. I knew … Read more »wiggums Hollow basketball Court...
Night. Park. Potato Guns. Such fun!The Other Side
I am the perennial bad neighbor. I came to this conclusion after our landlords phoned to inform us of third complaint the Environmental Health Service had received on our behalf. Between us, me and my housemates, we struggled to decided whether this was for the pile of uncollected rubbish in the front garden, the noise from the party a night ago, or, that last time someone complained, we drunkenly yelled … Read more »Fire!
I'm somewhat psychic--and one morning, I left my house with a premonition it might burn before I returned--and when I returned my road was blocked on both sides and 14 fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were clogging the block. My neighbor, up on a secluded hill, had experienced a slight fire, quickly under control, but didn't know about the huge turnout down on the street below--until I videoed it … Read more »sutch a strange boy
I was 5 he was 6we both knew we would be stuck with each other
are whole lives
i swear he knew how to make everything better
even when are mudd pies went bad
and the monsters were chaseing us
we both would just laught
i owe him so mutch
i couldnt have asked for a better childhood
here we are now, trying to live in the … Read more »
By sarahswine 4 years ago The Invisble Milkman
Oakfield Road. It was a very classy clutch of bedsits. One girl had used a shit filled nappy to smear the hall wall in a protest. Rabbit fleas from the girl upstairs danced and vaulted in and out of my wine. The shower was live – literally. You would feel a life affirming/death threatening tingle if you risked taking more than sink scrub clean.Then there was Finlay. If we … Read more »
Cancer Helped me Be Alive
My teacher developed cancer and shortly died. I had had her for less than three weeks. She was though, and always will be, my teacher. (You know what I'm talking about. We all have a teacher who makes a dramatic impact on our life.) I'm only in eighth grade but I must admit I might as well be a forty year old. My mind works and functions in such a … Read more »The three B's
I used to live next to a family with three boys: Brad, Bill, and Brian. The youngest was Brad, and the oldest was Bill. Through the thin walls that seperated my apartment from theirs, I could hear everything that happened in their house-- Bill yelling at his mom, Brad crying about something Brian or Bill did to him... the house was ALWAYS noisy. And when the boys weren't inside, the … Read more »Ardent Ardee
After ending my violent first marriage, I moved with my three year old daughter to an tiny apartment in a shabby complex. The apartments boasted a variety of dubious individuals, including the landlady's middle-aged alcoholic brother, Ardee. I met my current husband, Dean, that summer, and he either crashed at my place in the evenings, or we went to his home. Dean came by one late fall evening, beat from … Read more »Hepatitis Heaters
I had a roommate ( the worst kind of neighbor) who is the dumbest person I have ever met. She and her boyfriend used to make me so angry because they would leave space heaters on when no one was home; something so crazy dangerous and they just did not understand despite my many requests.On New Years Eve 1999, I went to a party where they happened to be. We … Read more »
By aebgiven 4 years ago Unreasonable Hate
I hate both my neighbors. They’re different as apples and oranges, but I hate them both. You say, “oh surely you don’t hate them sir,” or, “Isn’t hate a strong word”. So I sit on a rock an think and being all suave and such I deliver an answer that knocks your socks off. “Yes, I hate them, as much as I hate the cubs”. “Oh my,” you gasp … 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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