Neighbors

Neighbors, have you got some? My best friends do - you know, the kind where you grill out, you actually ask your neighbors over to help you eat the bounty? In a small, Georgia town, in a small neighborhood, these people of all ages, 20 - 80 have found the secret to small town livin'. And that's what they do, one cooks, they all have a plate brought over to them. One bakes, everyone gets a few brownies, a portion of the cake, it is a sweet life. One plants new flowers, the others go to the nursery and bring back landscaping advice AND the new plants too. Young and old, dogs and dogless, they all get along. They all band together, too. Like that one night, the night the police were all over the street and yellow tape was being strung across one of the neighbor's yard that no one ever saw much, except on Friday nights when the cars who came to party were so numerous that none of the other neighbors could get to their driveways. It was a sad night for these tight-knit neighbors, for one who lived close to them, but did not participate in their friendly times, was dead - shot by another drunken partier, purely a product of alcohol, not anything else, just a foolish waste of a twenty-something-old life. The neighbors go on, sharing and smiling, but cast a daily glance at the deceased one's car still sitting in the same spot in his driveway the last time they saw him drive in, that one last time. It makes their friendly "get-togethers" seem even more special. Life is short, life is shorter without neighbors.