Love thy neighbor

     There are times when your neighbor is a great irritation to you, (for example, like at 12:30am when they decide to let off some celebratory fireworks, or when they purchase a motorcycle and drive up and down your street  revving the engine over and over again, or letting their annoying little Chihuahua yip and yip and yip for hours on end) and there are the times when YOU are the great irritation. On a hot summer day several years ago, I have to say that it was I who was the irritant. Now, I didn't mean to be. I certainly would never want to be.
     Let me try to explain. My momma lived about 6 houses down from us. Her neighbor Roy is very fond of fishing. EVERY single day. So fond in fact, that his wife refuses to allow another fish to cross their threshold. With his daily catch no longer welcome in his own house, Roy began bringing fish to Mommas house. DAILY. After eating fresh fish for about two weeks straight, and having filled her two freezers to full capacity, she did what any other sound minded, generous, desperate person would do. She started giving the fish to HER neighbors. That's where I come in.
     My freezer quickly became full. So full, that I began throwing the dreaded daily donation away. Now we live in the desert, and the way we cool our home is with an evaporative cooler which uses a fan to pull air from outside across cool water and bring the cooled air into the house. Here is where the problem began to grow. Monday is trash day. This was Tuesday evening. The temperatures were in the 110s. By Wednesday evening, the rotting fish began to reek and the cooler was pulling the odor into the house. We decided it was unbearable and moved the trash cans to the curb. It still stank to high heaven, even after 2 gallon bottles of bleach and 3 containers of Pine sol were doused in them.
     Our next door neighbor Henry happened to see me when I was in the back yard and came up to the fence. Casually resting his arms across the top, he leaned forward and in his slow southern drawl asked me, "Y'all got somethin' dead over there?"
     It was a very long wait till Monday.
     The best neighbor ever,
     Miss Jodi