=At first, my neighbor’s invitation to her Tupperware party made me apprehensive. On the con side, it would be late in the evening (during my son’s bedtime), I’d miss out on TV time with my husband and I didn’t want to spend the money. On the pro side, Janet (my neighbor) was very nice, I would enjoy eating someone else’s food and the chance at having a pseudo-girl’s night out across the street was very appealing. So in the end, I RSVP’d and attended.
I knew that I had made the right choice as soon I entered Janet’s door. She (a middle-aged civilian woman) and her husband Dwight welcomed us to the neighborhood again and also thanked me for my husband’s service (again).
“We are just so happy to see a young family living in that house,” Dwight said to me just as he turned to head into his man room: a spare bedroom outfitted with a recliner and a huge TV.
“We are happy to be here,” I replied with genuine affection in my voice. All the neighbors had been so darned friendly.
“Yeah, that James fellow was an odd one,” Dwight turned and said to me in a conspiratorial voice.
James was the previous owner of our house. I actually had no idea what kind of fellow he was (maybe a bit unscrupulous as he left us with a large plumbing problem), but I went along with it.
“You know, I found a throwing knife in the side bushes of our house just the other day,” I said to him. “I thought that maybe one of the kids from the school down the street had dumped it in there.”
Dwight shook his head as he looked at me. “Oh, no. I bet that belonged to James. He was a paramilitary type,” he whispered to me. “Tons of guns, knives and bullets.”
I then recalled the locked hallway closet that we did not have access to during our home’s pre-inspection. I mentioned that to Dwight.
“Yeah. I think that is where he kept them.”
After a few more pieces of information doled out on Dwight’s part, Janet appeared with a glass of wine in her hand for me, which I gladly accepted. Dwight was then sent on his way. I committed the information regarding my home’s previous owner and then happily sat down on the couch with the colorful catalog that featured the evening’s product demonstrations.