This choice: You Decide to Get the Paper • Go Back...
Chapter #2
The Neighborhood
by: Unknown
“You know Maggie,” you say. “i’m going to go get the paper.” As you slide down the stairway on the edge of the table, Maggie looks in concern. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea Neil.” “Quit babying me baby,” you say with a smile. “I’ve been living here in Dreadberry for more than two decades. I think I can handle getting the paper. You kiss your wife’s big toe and walk out as both Maggie and Sapphire looked on in concern. “Mom?” asks Sapphire. “Is it a man thing or a human thing?” Maggie simply gives an unamused look your daughter’s way.
You know you should be careful, but you’ve lived in Dreadberry for so long that you don’t really show much fear. Of course you gotta admit, there could be some dangerous monsters, especially Meagan, that vulpine ex of yours. You dated her before you met Maggie and she was fun at first, but she became possessive and didn’t even let your own family get close to you. You felt like a prisoner back when you were living with her, so you broke up with Meagan. To say Meagan didn’t take it well would be a gross understatement. She’s still bitter after all these ears and warned you that if she even saw you again, she’d swallow you whole and since she lived directly across the street from you, she’s tried it and often. You wish you had never met Meagan. Fortunately she’s too scared of Maggie to try anything with your lioness wife present.
As you walk down and see the paper in site you begin to wonder if you’ll even see the neighbors so early in the morning. There was one you’d rather avoid. Her name was Raven and she was a banshee who moved into the neighborhood back when Sapphire was still in elementary school. You and Maggie tried to be good neighbors and welcome her into Dreadberry but Raven was smitten with you at first sight and wanted you to divorce Maggie and hook up with her. Maggie has had to threaten to lock that banshee up several times but Raven still has her eye on you.
But some neighbors weren’t so bad. There was that werehyena Summer from next door. Of course, Summer was a big grouch, but she was friendly to humans and didn’t eat any of them. Summer however has been in a bad mood ever since her older sister got married. You heard that it was a gay wedding and that Cree’s bride was a werejackal. You don’t know what factor it was that made Summer so upset.
Of course, then there was Summer’s other neighbor, Flora Flanders, or as Summer called her “Stupid Flanders”. That spriggan girl was very sweet and cheery, to an annoying degree. It was impossible to upset her, but you endured it. But that girl looks on the bright side so often that she doesn’t see that Cattleya and Meagan despise you and wish you harm. Flora is the kind who would invite criminals to a house party.
Then there was a neighbor you really got along with, your sister Meryl. Meryl actually lived in Dreadberry before you did. She moved to the monster world after she rose from her grave as a giant skeleton. It’s amazing that there was anything left for her to revive given that she was killed in an explosion. You were also surprised that she met somebody before you met Maggie. Your brother-in-law Flint the golem. Flint had to be the only in-law you had that didn’t drive you crazy. Meryl should be jogging by any minute. You wonder why she bothers given she has no fat or muscles left.
Then the last of the neighbors on your block was the one you don’t really know that well. Her name was isis and she was a serpopard, a leopard with a snake’s neck. You didn’t even know her last name or if she had one because she was the most reclusive monster you’ve ever seen.
You soon reach the newspaper and start dragging it back inside. You had been working out so you’d save Maggie the trouble. But then you saw a shadow approaching. It was one of the neighbors, but who?
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