South of Sunnyside

A couple of weeks ago, as I returned from an evening bike ride to Starbucks, I noticed a car parked several houses down. It’s a fairly new Honda Accord, which alone isn’t noteworthy; inside, however, a man sat, in the dark, just looking at his cell phone. I rode by several times, taking note of the license plate.

The car has returned almost daily, but not to the same spot—in fact, most evenings it’s just outside of our bedroom, along the west-side curb. I had come to the conclusion that it must belong to one of the neighbors, and then one day I noticed a pile of sunflower seeds under the driver’s side window. Neighbors simply don’t sit in their car with a bag of sunflower seeds.

Tonight, as Kim left for youth group, she noticed a man walking from the direction of the car (she didn’t see him at the car) towards one of the houses further down; he jumped as if to look into the garage, and by the time she turned around he could no longer be found.

We’re likely being paranoid, but it’s possible that this person has set up camp inside the latest home to be abandoned. I hope to ask the police officer that routinely stops in at Starbucks what we should do.

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