The Neighborhood

My best friend in the world is Hector Smegmel. Hector lives alone in a garden shed in the back yard of our 4th Grade teacher's house. It seems Hector and Mr. Polaris have a special relationship. They seem happy with the arrangement. Mr. Polaris said he hasn't had any trouble with gophers or mice since Hector moved in 23 years ago. I think the whole thing has a kind of "Slingblade" feel to it.
Hector has always kept things in jars. His collection has grown to over 430 jars. They are lined up on shelves in his shed. Most of the jars have urine colored fluid with tuber type things floating in them. It's not a large shed and with 430 jars taking up most of the space we usually sit in plastic lawn chairs in the yard when I come over.
I bring my own tea when I visit Hector. Once, in the summertime I was sitting in a plastic lawn chair in Mr. Polaris's back yard and I asked Hector for some iced tea as it was very warm and I was thirsty. He said, "Sure," and went into his shed. He came out a minute later with a glass containing some urine colored fluid and a few ice cubes. I thanked him, but I didn't drink it. It's possible one of his jars had tea in it but I'm not much of a gambler when it comes to beverages at Hector's house.
Mr. Polaris always comes outside to see what Hector and I are doing. He's very old now and I don't think he remembers ever allowing Hector to live in his garden shed. It's quite possible Hector never asked permission. Hector is a little fuzzy on boundaries and appropriate social interaction.
I think Mr. Polaris eventually accepted that Hector was living in his back yard. He had to admit that for whatever reason, his rodent problem had subsided considerably since Hector's arrival. But, today was not one of Mr. Polaris's better days. He had come out in the back yard to see what was going on wearing only his wool socks. Hector and I could have dealt with that, but Mr. Polaris wasn't wearing his socks on his feet. We laugh about it now, but at the time it was a little creepy.
All things considered, we live in a pretty nice neighborhood.
You're welcome to stop by any time. We'll have iced tea and talk about important things.