In the beginning, when the lockdown had been newly implemented, life had been quiet. As the weather began to warm, I began to spend more time outside on my back deck. In the early hours of the morning, I often drink tea and scroll through social media on my laptop. For a while my only company was the birds. On one such occasion, as I sat drinking my tea, I heard the sound of a slamming door. The area was fairly new and not many of the houses had been bought. Looking over the too short fence that separated my house and one other, I saw him. His auburn hair was a mess and his pyjamas were slightly askew. I could see the dark shadows under his eyes from where I sat. Checking my old, leather strapped watch I’d inherited from my father when he passed, I couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped from my dry lips. It was barely passed five in the morning and this guy clearly wasn’t an early bird. Continuing my casual stalking of my neighbour, I witnessed him practically trip over the railing of his deck and fall flat on his face in the muddy ground that hadn’t quite yet grown grass. I was so shocked by the suddenness of this all, I burst into laughter. Purely from shock. Not because he sat up, covered in mud, with the most confused and disgruntled expression I’ve ever seen on anyone in my life. No, definitely not. Upon hearing my laughter, which was not at all quiet, he looked over the fence and made intense, confused eye contact with me. Immediately I tried to cover my laughter with a cough, but then remembered we were in the middle of a pandemic. Instead I sounded more like a mix between a bird, hyena, and bear. When I finally stopped the horrible noise that had come from my vocal cords, we continued to stare at each other. Then a huge, goofy grin spread in the mud cover man’s face. “Hey neighbour!” He got to his feet and walked closer to the fence. “My name’s Fredrick! What’s yours?” Shocked by the sudden change in energy levels it took me a moment to answer. “Uh, I’m Blaine.” Glancing at his still disheveled and muddy appearance I gave him a questioning glance. “Are you alright? That was one heck of a fall. How does one even manage to do something like that?” “I’m fantastic. I actually came out here to meet you since I woke up and saw you from my window. Then the sun blinded me and I fell....” He squinted down at his appearance. “You know, I liked these pyjamas and now there ruined. This sucks!” And I thought I sounded chipper in the mornings. This guy is complaining and still sounds happy. I already love this guy. He has a puppy feel to him and I may own a cat but I’m a sucker for puppy eyes. I think I’ve gained the only neighbour I could ever want. And we’d have plenty of time to get to know each other from across our fence.