We used to have a lovely couple as neighbor who lived just beside our home. The husband works as a police Inspector while the wife is a home maker. Every morning, we get to see the wife doing her tai chi routine. Sometimes, we get to see the wife’s father doing tai chi with her too and it was fun seeing them practicing that. I guess I could say that I learned a few steps of tai chi just by observing them daily.

My neighbor had a black cat we called “Kitty’”. Well she never really named her cat, so I prefer calling it “Kitty”. Lame name, I know.. but she liked it. Eventually, everyone started calling it “Kitty” too. Whenever the couple went away for a vacation, they’d leave us their house key so we’d be able to come over and feed “Kitty”. It was awesome, because I get to play with the cat often, even bring it over to our home!

One day, we noticed that we our neighbor had a new “guest” in their home. A very handsome looking guy with a sweet looking smile and a pair of sexy eyes. (Bah~ wish I wasn’t a small girl that time or I’d ask him out. LOL!!!!) I guess good news spread fast, especially in a close knit community like our neighborhood. You’d noticed that most girls in the neighborhood would walk past my neighbor’s house just to have a glance look on the guy’s cute face – who happened to chill on the balcony every evening. Even my housemaid dressed up neatly everyday just to get his attention! As for me, well, I was only 9 years old – so obviously I didn’t have any crush of whatsoever with him! LOL! Although I’d smile to him whenever I saw him on the balcony. There are times when he would smile back at me. Sometimes, he would make some cute stuff out of plants and flowers and hand it over to me. He was so sweet…. However, sometimes, I noticed that he would just mute himself on the balcony, not smiling back at me – like he’s in a trance or something.

We found out later that he is the brother of our neighbor, the police Inspector.

A few weeks later, we overheard loud voices coming from our neighbor’s home. It sounded like they were having a quarrel or something… I can’t remember exactly what they were saying but it involved something about “sending him away”. We later found out from our neighbor that his brother was sent to an institute for his addiction treatment. We were shocked to hear the news. He looked so “normal” most of the time. I guess now that explained his muteness and “trance-like” look.

I guess sometimes we can never tell whether the person is doing drugs or not. Some could hide it away, some couldn’t. So the best way it to keep a constant communications, especially your loved ones. Get to know them. Talk to them before it gets too late. Sometimes talking helps.

As for my neighbor’s brother, we’ve never heard of him since ever since we moved to another town. But where ever he is, I hope things are going really well for him.