Chapter 12

So I launched a third “Hey!,” after which the vacuum cleaner stopped, allowing the housekeeper’s disco music to once again take center stage. I heard a man’s voice cry “Ack!,” and a swarthy head poked out the window.

“My plant!”

“Never mind your plant! I could have been killed!”

The swarthy head swiveled, and I received my second jolt of the episode. Peering down at me with surprised green eyes was a devastating beauty of the Mediterranean style. “Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry!!” he cried.

I could tell by his stricken look that he truly was, although a twitch at the corner of his mouth gave away the fact that he was trying not to laugh. Looking down on a shirtless neighbor with dirt on his face and leaves in his hair, I am sure I would have had to subdue the same impulse, but I was still startled and closer to half-asleep than I had realized, so I couldn’t back down. “Who are you, anyway?” I challenged.

“Who are you?” he returned. The nerve!

“Who am I?”