There is always some trepidation when new neighbors move in next door. We don’t want someone who is too friendly or nosey. People who are unable to fit into the community are equally bothersome. The home next to mine had been up for rent for several weeks. The price is a little to steep for most rental property but it did have the distinction of being in one of the finer areas of town. The owner decided to retire and live in his lake home. Being unwilling to sell the “in town” house left no choice but rental. So, after many showings, the sign finally came down from the front yard. Now it was a matter of waiting for the new arrival.
It had been almost a week and the new tenants had failed to be seen outside. It was easy to tell of the progress inside by the large number of empty boxes and full garbage cans. I don’t believe either car moved the entire week. But, I worked every day and the comings and goings certainly didn’t need to correspond to my schedule. I guessed that the initial meeting and impressions would come soon enough. Many would find a reason to greet and introduce them but that is not my style. I would rather give them time to settle in.
While I was doing the normal Saturday morning pool maintenance, the first activity was heard next door. The storage room door was opening and closing. Items were being dragged into the yard. I could see little bits of movement through the gaps in the privacy fence and while the figure was definitely female, not much else could be seen. I could hear the cover for the pool pump housing being opened but none of the normal sounds that accompanied cleaning the filters. I thought that it was just a matter of familiarization with the equipment.
Later that morning the doorbell rang. When I opened the door my first impression was surprise. The most wonderful creature stood looking at me with a slightly embarrassed look. She told me her name was Beth and she was my new neighbor. Now, Beth was not just an attractive woman. She was a beauty. She was about five foot, six inches tall with the most sparkling green eyes I had ever seen. Her hair was shoulder length and blond. I know the color was real because the eyebrows matched her hair perfectly. I couldn’t help but wonder if the entire body matched as well. Her figure was slender but not skinny. The loose blouse didn’t hide the perfect breasts underneath. She said that she and her daughter had just moved in and everything was going fine until she tried to get the pool cleaned. The realty agent had given her a quick run-through of the necessary steps but she could not remember all of them. The agent had told her that with all the pools in the neighborhood that there would almost certainly be someone willing to help, if needed. Of course I was available. I introduced myself as Greg and told her I would be over in just a few minutes.
I flew through a fast face washing and hair brushing. Tucking in my shirt, I headed out the door to give any assistance possible. Once in the back yard I could see that there was a much larger problem with the pool. It appeared that one of our afternoon storms had caused the circuit breaker on the pump to flip off. With no one home to reset the switch, the pool had become a mess. It doesn’t take long in a warm southern summer for the water to resemble a roadside mud puddle. It was easy to get the pump restarted but getting the water ready for use was another story. I checked the chemical status of the water, cleaned out the filters, and vacuumed the bottom. Unfortunately, the algae bloom was far enough advanced to require special treatment. I told Beth that the water would take several days to treat and stabilize before being used. She showed immediate disappointment.
She told me that her daughter had really wanted to use the pool this weekend. One of the only reasons she rented the house was her daughters desire to have a pool of her very own. She told me that her daughter loved to swim and it was her stress-relief while in college. I offered to get the treatments started and in a moment of pure lust over Beth, I told her that she and her daughter could use my pool until theirs was ready. I really wanted to see Beth in a bathing suit of any kind. She graciously accepted the invitation. She didn’t want to tell her daughter that her first weekend in the new place would not be fun. She asked if I would mind if only her daughter used the pool this weekend. She had been off work for the entire week and needed to go into her office and catch up on much needed paperwork. She assured me that her daughter would be no trouble and I could end the pool time whenever I needed. I tried to hide my disappointment that Beth would not be able to come over, but I figured that being friendly would reap more potential benefit in the future.