The Family Over the Fence

by Colette Paterson, Merici College

The familiar chatter of a pointless episode of ‘Days of Our Lives’ blurred into a thick, jumbled mess. It was 3pm, except, well, time was no concept to him. When each day blurred into the next, an hour simply meant nothing. On the fraying and exhausted sofa, he wavered between sleep and wake. An ottoman was no relief to his swollen, bulging feet. The cat pranced along the tiles. Tickling his tail on the sofa, he finally settled down beside the sun- soaked window, hot with the afternoon glow.

Finally, he dozed, but soon a loud clatter startled him from his moment of peace. It was those bloody neighbours again. As far as he was concerned these people didn’t belong anywhere near his country.

Ripe with curiosity, he dragged his tired body to the secluded window overlooking their ordinary garden. Concealing himself behind the dusty curtains, he watched their tacky good luck signs sway with a powerful gust of wind. He peeked at what seemed countless children dancing a silly dance and he watched those same children being called into the warmth and security of their house.

They had come as a sea of yellow, a tsunami engulfing his country. No street remained that hadn’t been drenched by the wave. The family next door was part of this wave. Coming two years ago, they replaced a lovely white family, bringing their yellow skin, their tacky neon knick-knacks and their foul kitchen odours wafting across the street. They could never belong.

With a shake of his head he recalled the first day they came, the bitter taste they left in his old and crusty mouth. A tranquil and calm life was over. From dawn until dusk he could hear them squawking as loud as a flock of angry galahs. Snippets of their chatter floated into his ears – their words meshed together at 1000km an hour, speaking as if their life depended on it – speaking as if you had to shout to be heard.

As he curled the sharp tin’s lid, the cat circled his stiff legs, yelping loudly in delight. Through gritted teeth he leaned down, tipping the food into the cat’s bowl. This sloppy mess was the cat’s utmost delight.  Starting the testing journey outside to reach the bin, he stumbled, and the crumbling and splintering back step couldn’t even take his meagre weight. He tumbled. He fell. No strength to stop himself. His bare head took the brunt. Suddenly all was black.

Blinking slowly, he opened his stiff eyes. All he could do was lay there. Thoughtless. Strengthless. Soundless. Shadowed by his rotting fence. Not even the cat noticed his master’s absence, still engrossed by his latest fare.

Heroes can come from the most unlikely of places; places like over the fence. She was a young girl, yellow skin. Sensing something was wrong, she peeked through a small hole in the joint fence. “Māmā,” she wailed, “Jio ` ming`.” Those magic, yet alien words, initiated help and soon the rest of her family spilled into their backyard and then into his.

An ambulance raced down the street, siren blaring and tires screeching. Help finally arrived.

Returning home, he prepared to settle back into the same same, wearier than ever. Cobwebs had engulfed his door handle. So, through a frowning face, he opened the creaky door. Expecting the cat to delight at his return, he was met with an eerie silence. Fearing the worst, sadness consumed him. Who would be there beside him? It was them, he knew it. Those alien children were always gawking through the fence as his cat paraded his silky coat.  They had their chance to have him and without a doubt they seized it.

Stiff legs marched across the bitumen. The sweet smell of spring flowers felt wrong. He prepared to make them pay. Arriving angrier than ever, he hammered his heavy fist against their timber door. The windows rattled violently under his wrath. Though, as the door opened, he was hit with confusion. There was the cat. Leaping out, he started slinking between his master’s fragile legs.

“Ma feed cat for you when you gone,” a timid and wary girl muttered in broken English.

Suddenly memories of his fall flooded back, a sea of yellow faces who looked upon him with concern and kindness, as he lay helpless. These were those faces. Inside him brewed a strange concoction of emotions, joy at his unexpected reunion, confusion and perhaps, maybe, just a little guilt.

Yet he could do little more than grunt a hushed thank you. Perhaps tomorrow their chatter might bother him just a little less.