I’ll try not to give too much background information, but anything in here might be a clue . . .
My husband and I live in a neighborhood of cookie-cutter houses, built at the same time by the same builder. Our next-door neighbors have been there about 15 years. Dad and mom in their mid-40s, daughter about 20 at college, son maybe 15 in high school. Their house is absolutely identical to ours, but I don’t know what kind of appliances they have. We have awning-type windows, the type that crank out.
We are cordial to them and talk to them and their dogs over the backyard fence, but don’t hang out with them much because 1. we don’t have kids, 2. we don’t have corresponding work/home hours so we rarely see them, 2. they smoke incessantly so we can’t tolerate being around them much. But they seem to be OK people. I think he is a teacher; don’t know what she does.
It’s only really gotten cold here in northeast Ohio in about the last two weeks. It’s been in the 20s overnight and in the low-mid-30s during the day. Otherwise, we might not have noticed. They have a window in an upstairs bedroom that they never seem to close – it’s at least a foot open. It’s been that way for two weeks. It’s fucking *cold *here. There’s not a board over it – we can see light through it.
I like leaving windows open myself – I hate that day in the fall when we have to close all the windows, because fresh air keeps me from getting headaches. But leaving the windows open in 20-degree weather? Our fuel bill would be $1000 a month. Plus we would freeze our asses off.
The first time we noticed it, we just assumed it was a mistake. But then it stayed open for days. My husband happened to get home from work one day the son was strolling up the walk from somewhere and my husband was very relieved – he asked “Hey, did you guys know your window is open up there?” The son looked astonished and said “It is?” and hurried into the house. The window is still open. That was about five days ago. We have been wondering what to do, and getting all kinds of crazy ideas, one of the crazy ones being just asking them what the hell is going on.
He has been planning to go over and ask, but he got called out of town on a business trip. I just took the dogs on a walk around the block. It’s 30 degrees. The window is open.
They have a ground-floor window that’s completely covered with condensation all the time. It just drips, drips, drips. We’ve figured that’s just a poorly ventilated laundry room. Or is it?
What the hell are they doing in there?