He Keeps to Himself

Our neighbors Tony and Rachel lived down the street. Their 40+ son and his wife divorced, and their son lost everything, including his house. He moved in with Tony and Rachel last year and died.

Then, a short time later Tony, age 78, died a day or two before last Thanksgiving. Shortly after Tony’s burial Rachel fell and broke several bones in her foot. My neighbor Bob said “if Rachel didn’t have bad luck, she wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

A couple days ago I saw a moving van backed up to Rachel’s house. There were a couple big boxes on the porch I noticed as I rode by.

The next day when I rode by saw that the part of the house I could see in was empty – no furniture. I was curious where she went.

Today, returning from the post office I saw Rachel’s neighbor working in his yard and stopped and got out and asked what about Rachel – did she move?

The neighbor told me Rachel and Tony was kind of funny, they liked to keep to themselves. And he added, “It seems I hadn’t seen Tony in a few months.”

I told him Tony died a few months ago. He was taken back… like he lost his breath and had to gulp for air. Then I told him it appeared that Rachel had moved : I saw a moving van and now the part of the house I can see, which is the den, is empty of furniture. That surprised him too.

Tony and Rachel’s next door neighbor didn’t even know one had died and the other one moved – now that is keeping to yourself.

When I got home I called my neighbor Jim who values his knowledge about all the neighbors. He told me Rachel moved to Cherokee County, Georgia, to live with her daughter.