It’s 10:48pm and we’ve been asleep for half an hour. HYG gets up at 5:15am, so this makes timing makes a lot of sense.
I’m asleep too, somewhere toward my REM cycle and then, intruding upon my rapid eyes, the slam of a car door, multiple voices, bursts of laughter.
Huh? It’s morning already?
Er, well no, it was actually about 10:49pm. I’m already doing the window peeping when HYG rolls over and says, “What’s going on?”
“They’re moving in,” I reply incredulously, “at 11pm!”
They’re not only moving in, they’re moving in with gusto. Calling to each other. Laughing freely. Slamming doors. Rolling noisy suitcases across the driveway. Generally, all very normal moving-in noises. Except for 11 o’clock at night. On a Thursday. It’s a school night, for goodness’ sake.
Now we’re both properly awake. “5 adults,” I report, “3 large suitcases, no furniture.”
HYG just grunts in return. “I’m going to go have words with them,” he says, rolling suddenly out of bed.
And he does.
Now, I’m the mild, conservative Asian jittery type, and by and large, we like to leave well enough alone. The conservative makes me hover back in the darkness of the corridor, the jittery notes the position of the nearest umbrella, should things go awry. Really, even if you are a large Caucasian person moving into your new unit in the middle of the night, even if you’re a large angry Caucasian person moving into your new unit in the middle of the night, wouldn’t you be at least momentarily taken aback if a small shrieking Asian female came flying toward you, brandishing a Bankland-branded umbrella with a long spike on the top?
…but I digress.
Ok, so we had HYG heading out fearlessly into the night.
A young female glances at him as she rolls another suitcase quickly past. “I’m your new neighbour!” she chirps brightly.
Riiiight.
“’Scuse me,” HYG says generally, addressing the milling adults, “could you folk please keep it down? People are trying to sleep here.”
Listening from inside the house, it’s suddenly very quiet outside.
“Sorry,” one of them mumbles.
“We’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible,” another mutters. Even inside, that makes me almost smile. Who uses phrases like that?
HYG lingers for a few moments, playing the disgruntled neighbour, then slowly turns around and shuffles back to the house. I melt back into the shadows as he opens the door, so I won’t get caught in the light from outside.
We head back to bed.
It is very, very quiet outside.
We are also very, very awake.
In the darkness, I start giggling. “You did it,” I whisper. “You’re my hero!”
HYG grunts.
