Know Your Neighbours

Disclaimers: Standard disclaimers apply. sisterwine75@hotmail.com The X-Men and their likenesses belong solely to Marvel and 20th Century Fox. No harm meant. No money exchange. Just an idea on my part. Matthew and Stephanie are mine. Do NOT touch them!


A cool, rainy autumn day had Logan sitting on his front porchstep waiting for his two children to come bounding up the driveway and into the house from a long day at school. It was after school had already dismissed for the day but he had enrolled them in various activities. For his daughter the "genius", he placed her in the Math Club, and his son the ever imaginative one, Drama Prep. Since his wife died only a few short years ago, he thought it best to keep their minds busy so they wouldn't linger on the dark emotions too much.

Like a few on the street, Logan's was a good-sized two storey house with a big backyard and front yard, full of soft green grass and one adolescant maple tree. It was a house that his wife, Jean, had wanted and he just couldn't bring it up to tell her no. So, he cared for the yard and house like his wife had, hoping that it would bring him peace for losing his soulmate. Fresh white paint from the summer, and just barely finishing reshingling the roof before the rains came was the only thing to keep him busy when his work day ended and his days off began.

The house across the street had been empty for well over 6 months until a Uhaul truck backed into the driveway and two young men got out and opened the garage door. The driver wore only tight, faded blue jeans and an old Atlanta Braves jersey that was untucked and about as faded as his jeans. A backwards black baseball cap covered his rather long auburn ponytail that hung to near beltloops. White sneakers squeaked and patted almost soundlessly on the wet pavement as the back of the truck was opened and things were being unloaded.

Logan had opted to keep it up for potential buyers so, every other Saturday, he'd first mow that lawn and water the plants with his own watering can before starting on his own yard. Flowers lined the edges of the property and green grass paved the rest of the small but roomy yard. He had been proud of his hard work and hoped the new young owner would appreciate it as well. He'd thought about getting up to go over and introduce himself but halted as one by one his children raced up the driveway to tell their father what happened during the day.

"Dad, you'll never guess who Stephy has a crush on!" The younger boy, who resembled Logan moreso than his mother, laughed and chided his older sister. His blue jeans and white sneakers were soaked from jumping in too many puddles that were luckily not that muddy. And his red long sleeve shirt was spotted from the raindrops that fell on the way home. "Stephy's got a boyfriend, Stephy's got a boyfriend!" He laughed until his taller sibling turned around and shoved him back a step or two.

Long red hair swung over her shoulders and caped a glare at her brother. "Shut up, Matthew!" A beautiful twelve year old girl turned back to her dad, who had stood up to brace for the onslaught of chatter to explain her side of the story. "He's not my boyfriend. Daddy, there is a science fair at the Planetarium next week, and the Science Club has been nominated to present this year." She was a bright girl and chose to speak in intelligent words and phrases to sound more grown up.

Matthew chuckled and darted up the steps to pause behind Logan for a moment while he turned to taunt his sister with another, "Stephy has a boyfriend!" He straightened and sulked as Logan hushed him.

"Enough, Matt." His voice was soft but firm as he hadn't needed to move from his daughter. "Who's the boy?" Giving a hopeful smile at a possible new friend.

Stephanie had always shared a bond with her mother and when her mother died, she closed herself up and dove even deeper into her studies. She made a promise to herself that no upward glances at a boy were permitted for realisation that an abrupt end was only to come in the relationship. "I don't have a boyfriend!" She stomped her foot and crossed her arms, pouting at her dad.

Logan held up his hands as if to back down from a fight. "I didn't say you did, darlin." He stood eye to eye with her but seldom thought as she did.

Shrugging off the argument, Stephanie continued. "His name is Mister Sommers, and he's the head of the judging committee. He's won nine consecutive awards in his theory of light displacement in matter." She continued talkng as Logan only nodded and ushered her inside the warm house.

The two sat at the table and drank hot chocolate while laughing and giggling through their homework and waiting for Logan to finish fixing dinner. Occassionally, both Logan and Stephanie had to help Matthew with a problem but very few for Stephanie to need the same help. He was proud of his two children that were succeeding in school instead of becoming hassles. A brilliant twelve year old and her goofy but also quite smart ten yeaar old brother.

"Dinner time. Upstairs and wash up." Logan turned from setting the meatloaf down on the stove and removing the oven mits. He hustled them to the staircase that faced the front door and came to stand at the livingroom window to watch a pizza boy deliver 6 pizzas to a now house full of people helping move. He counted at least 4 cars of young adults, male and female, entering and exiting the house from both the garage and front door, moving expensive furniture and heavy boxes.

Matthew was the first one down and came to stand beside Logan, peering around his arm at what his father was looking at. "They got kids?" He asked as Logan closed the blinds and mussed Matt's hair.

"Dunno, kiddo. Just saw college kids." He turned and nudged his son into the diningroom/kitchen as Stephanie walked casually down the stairs.

Stephanie had heard most of their conversation and figured who they were talking about, and let in on what she had seen the week prior. "It's a young man with the most unnatural eyes. He was looking at the house last Wednesday with, I guess, his father and a few friends. He came back on Friday and took the sign down. As far as I can see, it's just him." She sat down at the small round table in what used to be her mother's seat, across from Logan. Her plate was in front of her and her food was neatly placed in sections, waiting to be eaten. Four baby carrots in a line, four green beans also in a line and two small slices of meatloaf striped with cool ketchup that faced her.

Matthew finished first, inhaling most of his meal and stood up to take his plate over to the sink to be washed and then placed in the dishwasher. He darted upstairs and into his room to watch television as his favourite program was on.

"He's not really my brother, is he?" Stephanie asked, giving Logan a hopeful look. She was almost finished with her meal and took slow strides so that she could have a small conversation with her father.

Logan smirked at her question and finished chewing his bite before he answered her. "Fraid so, munchkin." Changing the subject and enjoying the chance to interract with his oldest child, he found himself asking about her day. "Classes okay? They givin ya enough work to do?"

"The classes are fine, daddy. That's the nineth time you've asked me that since school started. The teachers are so overjoyed with the exuberant sophistication in my work, they've seen fit to just mark my papers with an A." She knew she was being a bit exaggerated but found it as a mellow joke between she and Logan of her excellance.

Nodding and catching the joke, Logan smiled. "That's good then."

They finished at about the same time and Logan took her plate with his and let her retreat to her room to examine the night sky with her brand new telescope from her birthday. He washed the plates and forks and placed them in the dishwasher before slipping outside to smoke his half gone cigar, on the front porch. Shaking the match out, his attention was turned towards the leaving cars and screaming kids from across the street.

A small, round porchlight was bright and lit up the doorway and half of the front yard on the house across the street. The new owner waved goodbye to the car loads before catching someone watching him across the street. He stood on the sidewalk, in front of the house, and waited to see the tiny red spark of the match go out before making his way across the wet street to hopefully bum a cigarette. "Got an extra smoke, mon ami? I'm out."

"Just this cigar." Logan stood on the second step and removed the cigar from his lips, offering it to the young man who stopped a few feet from him.

The young man smiled up at him. "Merci." He accepted and took a puff before handing it back to Logan. "Name's Remy. Et toi?" Taking the liberty of introducing himself, he held out his hand for a shake.

"Logan." Logan accepted and nodded back at Remy's house. "Since the Webb's moved out, I've been keepin up the yard and sweepin the driveway, makin it presentable. My two kids helped too. I'm just glad someone finally moved in."

Remy smiled and glanced back at his yard. "Merci beaucoup. My job keeps me on de go so, I'm rarely dere but, I t'ink I can handle it." He turned back to Logan and took another puff on the offered cigar.

"What kinda job?"

"Sales."

Logan nodded. "Ah. Pay good? I see it must be just you, or you and someone else?"

Remy shrugged and puffed again before handing back the cigar. "Family business. Poppa is de president of de corporation."

"Cool."

Remy nodded. "Jus' me in de house but dere's people dat come an' go all de time." Waving Logan to follow him off of the porch and out onto the sidewalk, Remy stared down the street, to the right of the house. As the street was on a high hill, somewhat, he could look out at the lights of the town and point out his father's building. "Dat's Poppa's new building here. Main place is in Nawlins." He pointed to a tall building with at least 15 floors and outlined in an electric blue lighting.

He hadn't realised it but, Remy was pointing to the same building plaza that Logan was security chief for. "LeBeau Industries? Yer dad is Jean-Luc LeBeau?"

"Oui." Was the curt reply. He had been ready to say something else but was stopped as his front door opened and his male moving companion waved to him. "Ah, t'anks for de smoke, homme. Mebbe, I see you later, non?"

Logan caught the other young man in the doorway and nodded before saying goodnight. "Door's open anytime, kid." He watched Remy jog across the street with his hands in his jeans pockets and stop in front of the door to tell his friend about the neighbour he met. Smiling, Logan turned around and started for the porch when a movement from the second floor window caught his attention.

Stephanie's room had been right above Logan's "office", around the corner from the livingroom. She had been watching the way Logan shared his smoke with the new neighbour, and shook hands with him before he was beckoned back to his side of the street. The look on her face was hard to determine as any one emotion but leaned more towards uncertainty than anything else.

He sighed, bending over to smudge out the cigar and hurried inside as a light misty rain started.

tbc