The sound of the impact was followed by a crunch and a grunt. Then there was a bicycle under a Ford Ranger and a cyclist sprawled out on the street. The cyclist got up straight away and tried to tug his bike out from under the car, before the driver was even able to climb out and check on him. When she got out beside him, he pointed at his front tire, which was wedged under her front tire. She jumped back inside and backed up the car.. He lifted his bike back upright and gave the front wheel a spin to check for warping. She stepped back out and stood by, nervously touching the handlebars and then his arm. After only a few more words had been said, the cyclist was retrieving the frozen pizza he’d lost in the accident and riding away. She got back into the car and completed her right turn. All of this happened while I stood on the corner across the street waiting for the traffic light to change.
My down-the-hall neighbor’s phone rings loudly enough that it can be heard from both the hallway and the laundry room. It rang earlier while I was loading my clothes into the dryer. By the time I’d gotten to the hallway, the answering machine had kicked in. The volume of the answering machine was even louder than the ringer’s volume, and I overheard part of the message being recorded – enough of the message to get the gist of it. Honestly, I may have lingered in the hallway for slightly longer than usual. It was interesting, but out of respect for my neighbor’s privacy I can’t repeat what I heard. However, I will say this: That dude is getting lucky tonight!
When I lived in Japan, my apartment had paper thin walls. At first, I thought the young guy living next door liked to watch pornography. Then, I learned that his girlfriend was there a lot and they were just going at it.
Evil me though. I used to go home, turn the telly up loud and wait for them to start and just when they got into it, hit the mute button.