Short Story

The House Across The Street

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Sue & Gerry’s Weekly Prompts Weekend
Challenge, using the word ‘maximalist’.
 Here’s where the prompt took me.

© Night Cafe

The situation with our neighbors across the street has gotten out of hand. Don’t get me wrong …. they’re lovely people. They are friendly but not overly so, they maintain their property and house and are agreeable and helpful. They even shoveled our driveway the winter my husband had rotator cuff surgery.

A couple of years ago, when their little girl was around three years old, our neighbors put up a pumpkin decoration for Halloween; it was a mid-size inflatable one and perfectly in keeping with the rest of the decorations on our little street. Each year, as their daughter got older, the number of decorations increased. All the neighbors noticed but no one said anything; after all, there’s nothing wrong with a few decorations.

Now our neighbor’s daughter is 15 years old, dresses in goth black from head to toe, and has a boyfriend who looks like Lurch. And their Halloween decorations have reached maximalist proportions. Their house and front lawn are covered with decorations and thousands of multi-colored lights pulsate to the rhythm of Metallica every day from noon until well after midnight.

It’s an extremely disturbing set of circumstances. As a result of this audio/visual onslaught, I have developed a nervous twitch in my neck and right eye while my husband now has Late-Onset Tourette Syndrome and both of us are suffering from relentless tinnitus.

We live in fear of what our neighbor’s Christmas decorations will be like. I’m afraid an endless loop of Mariah Carey’s “Santa Baby” just might put us over the edge.

NAR©2025

This is “Enter Sandman” by Metallica – Halloween Light Show version

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Maximalist

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

25 thoughts on “The House Across The Street”

  2. I read this the other day, I’m sure I made a comment. Perhaps I forgot to click Send.

    I wouldn’t want to live opposite either, a bit like overdoing Christmas. It’s the kind of thing that’s only fun to look at if it’s elsewhere! Thank you for joining in, Nancy.

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    1. No worries, Sue. It happens!

      I couldn’t agree more! When we were kids, our parents would drive around certain neighborhoods in The Bronx known for their extravagant decorations, whether Halloween or Christmas, and we loved seeing them. It was a fun way to spend an evening. The only way I would cope living across the street from a blitzkrieg such as this would be to draw the drapes and wear sound silencing headphones and a blindfold! 😂

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