Every neighborhood has one. You live in a quiet little suburban locale away from the hustle and bustle of big city life. Your kids can play and roam the area without having to dodge traffic every five seconds. This "hood" is the ideal place to start your family, if that is what you care to accomplish. Most of the neighbors are friendly, hard-working, and caring. Unfortunately, there is that one abode across the street that is a total enigma. Of course it is a rental house stationed in the middle of your own little utopia.
The grass in the back yard is always two or three feet high. It has new tenants bi-monthly. The owner never makes any improvement and only cuts the grass every three or four years when the town hall gets enough complains to force his hand. The new tenants apparently do not have a job because their vehicle or vehicles, if they have any, never leaves the yard on a possible work schedule. The front yard seldom gets landscaped and it is often taken care of by responsible neighbors. You begin to fear for your children's safety with all the "monsters" loose in our world today. They keep to themselves and all the information obtained is innuendo and gossip. If they ever communicate with anyone, it sounds like bluster and bragging. Then the "visitors" start to arrive and take up residence for a while. The police start to visit regularly and nearly every week or so the rescue squad makes it normal arrival. Then suddenly they are gone. The owner sends the local cleaning crew to clean up inside, but never outside. The for sale by owner sign with the phone number you have called numerous times to complain is deposited by the street. Then, the cycle begins again.
In the meantime, calls to your local government which has passed several town ordinances to assure us that our neighborhoods are safe are ignored. Most of which are personal issues that governments should have no control over. Our nice little utopia becomes that neighborhood with the "Mystery House." And we think video games, music, television and movies are unsuitable for our families.
