“A good neighbour is better than a friend far away” is what most people say, so I decided to say hello to the neighbour who lives ‘next’ door. My house is pretty secluded even though it is on top of a hill. Next door is still a bit of a walk away, but I thought it was the right thing to do. I am a woman living on my own and it is good to have someone you can go to in case of emergency. And you never know… you might make some friends.

So I baked a cake because I didn’t want to go empty handed. After I had knocked on the door a guy opened. I didn’t know what to expect, but I certainly did not expect someone looking like him. My guess is that he is the same age as me, maybe a few years older. He was wearing a tight singlet and cameo pants. It was obvious that he works out on a regular basis. He is about the same height as me and has beautiful long hair with the sides of his head shaved. His eyes were staring in mine as he said: “Yes, can I help you?”

I quickly regained my posture and as I stuck my hands out to give him the cake I said “Hi, my name is Jazz and I am your new neighbour“. He looked at the cake like I was about to give him poison and I already regretted that I had not come with something else. So I said “It’s a self made cake, it tastes pretty nice if I may say so myself “. He took the cake and said his name was Lee. To fill up the silence that followed I told him that I had just moved to this beautiful island and that I was going to start to work in the local swimming pool in three weeks and blah, blah, blah. I asked him if he had a family living with him and he said flat out no.

It was obvious that he wasn’t a big talker, or maybe I had just come at the wrong time. It was a pretty awkward situation. He wasn’t prepared to give up any information about himself and it is hard to keep a conversation going with someone who doesn’t want to add anything to it. I was thinking to myself that this was a pretty uncomfortable situation and I better to the comfort of my own home. So I said to him “Well Lee, it was nice meeting you! I hope you enjoy the cake and the rest of your day. I am sure I will be seeing you around. Bye! ” He replied with “Thanks for the cake and nice meeting you too! See ya “. Wow… he actually completed a whole sentence when I was about to leave.