Thin Walls Part Two.

I actually wrote this the same night I wrote Thin Walls Part One, but when I went to publish it, it simply disappeared, into thin air or The Clouds and as everyone in the home was fast asleep, there was no one to ask, so it stayed ‘lost,’ so I am writing it again, as it just won’t go away.

We live in a terraced house with a hall, a front room and a back room that I call the living room or the lounge. Our house is over one hundred years old, it’s solid and strong, so it was unusual one morning as I having my Quiet Time, to hear a man shouting at 6am, both the doors were shut, the living room door and the front door, yet I could still hear him, it seemed out of place, so I got up and went to the front door, looking through the spy hole I saw the man standing outside his rented home.

I’d seen him recently, he was new with his wife and two children, he gave me the impression of been really nice, polite, friendly, open and honest. He always said, “Hello,” when he saw me and I always replied the same back to him.

This morning he was very angry! He said to his little son, amongst other choice words, “Fuck off you little bastard!” I watched through the spy hole, as he was yelling like it was the middle of the day. It’s true, you can’t tell a book by it’s cover, for the very next time I saw him, I tried to ignore him and pretend I hadn’t seen him, but I’d hear the, “Hello, good morning,” Reluctantly I’d reply, “Hi with a weak smile.

The family moved into our road about three months before. It was odd to see their two young children on the streets on their own, the girl looked about six years old, often they would be out at 8pm or later! It used to puzzle me, but when I heard their Dad shouting and swearing at them, maybe it was better outside than in the house. It was clearly a very unhappy home, if we could hear the Parents arguing, swearing in front of their children, it must have been a total nightmare for their next door neighbours!

His young Son rides on his bicycle, holding on to his Dad his little hands around his waist from the back, no helmet or any safety feature.

The Parents argue using foul language, all of the time in front of the children. I wondered why their neighbours hadn’t reported them, I suppose it’s the same reason that we or our neighbours haven’t either, for they too would have heard all the verbal abuse the kids have had shouted at them. Would the children thank us for putting them into care? Would the children thank us for separating them for their Parents? None of us want the cops at our door, or worse Social Services!

I’d told my Husband Paul about the horrible Couple opposite us, and as he has his cigarette outside on the front step, he’d hear and see different things while I was a work. He was disgusted when the Dad opened the front door after his Son left the house, he shouted to his little Son, “Go fuck yourself, and fuck your girlfriend, while you’re at it!” The ‘girlfriend’ is the same age as the little boy. This was at 7pm. On a different occasion, he saw the Dad yell after the child, just after he'd left the house, "Im going to knock your teeth down your throat!"  

Megan our Daughter has heard the Parents yelling too. The other night, at 3am I suddenly heard through our bedroom window a child’s voice and the Woman, yell back, “Don’t you start!” That poor child should be asleep! Who is going to end their misery? I’ve come close, but I’ve had to think it through, would they thank me? Certainly not at first, but after a couple of years I suppose, if they were lucky enough to be put into a lovely foster home…….

Then yesterday while I was in a car park outside a restaurant, I saw a young couple clearly auguring, the woman was pushing one of those tiny prams for new-born’s their Son was with them he looked about ten years old, then the man stood in front of the little pram, his legs apart and arms folded, the woman had no choice but to stand still, now she could not get past him, I really felt sorry for the young lad, as they shouted at each other on the street in full view of all the people eating their meals. No one has helped him either, he is still living the nightmare! He just stood there looking the other way, I was hoping to see Security, to tell him, as sometimes they patrol the car park, but there was no one.

The angry Parents opposite us, Paul heard then yelling about getting a “Fucking divorce!” How unstable their young children must feel. For me, if I saw him hit his children, I would make that call. But I can only imagine his neighbours are thinking they won’t make the call to Social Services, nor will our neighbours for we all must be thinking the same thing, someone else will do it!