Teenagers in the 'hood

It was pretty quiet in the neighbourhood when I was home sick last week. But around
noon that day, I was upstairs, & I could hear voices/laughter. It seemed to be coming from nearby, but I couldn't see anyone when I looked out the window (although some of the view is blocked by our garage & the neighbours' garages).

I came downstairs to get some lunch & was in the kitchen -- and all of a sudden, I saw a young boy (about 14 -- someone I've seen occasionally hanging around with the Little Girl Next Door) jumping over the split-rail fence that separates our yard from the next-door neighbours', & running across my front yard, down our driveway and down the street, looking over his shoulder at one point.

I thought, "OK, NOW what?? What has he been up to?" I opened the front door a crack -- & there were two or three other young guys, standing on LGND's doorstep.

I quietly closed the door again. And tried not to laugh. (Too much.) I didn't see LGND, but I am thinking she was either there & had been talking to them, through a crack in the door or through the front window, or they were just knocking on the door to see if she was home.

LGND, as I've written before, is six months younger than Katie would have been -- i.e., 13 years old. 

The other night, I had brought some work home with me and was upstairs in our "office," when again, I heard a lot of giggling, squealing & "Nooooo!"s. I looked out the window & saw LGND and her gaggle of girlfriends, standing out front, cellphones glowing in the twilight.

Today, I was at the kitchen sink, and a boy came riding his bike down the sidewalk, peering intently at our house as he passed.  I wondered why he was so interested in our house. Then I recognized him -- it was the same boy from last week. He wasn't looking at our house, he was looking at LGND's -- probably trying to ascertain if she was home or catch a glimpse of her.

Yes, we have teenagers in the 'hood. ; )

When I told dh, he rolled his eyes & muttered a few choice words about how LGND was way too young for this kind of thing, etc. etc.  LGND used to adore him (as most little girls do);  these days, of course, she's usually with one of her friends or absorbed in pecking at her cellphone, so we're lucky to get a perfunctory wave as we pass each other coming and going.

Having been a teenaged girl once myself, I think he's being rather harsh... of course, he insists that Katie would NEVER have been like THAT. Yeah, right... ;  )