I noticed it first—because we locked our doors at night.
We never did that before.
But everything changed.
I guess I saw it happen all around me
in the papers
on the news
I knew it was them.
A couple of kids threw eggs at a house
broke into a garage
three houses
I know the ones you mean.
From over there?
When did they move in?
I don’t know.
But after they came,
It all started going to hell
It used to be that only the paranoids,
Who watched television shows like
America’s Deadliest Next Door Neighbors
(And the Families They Destroyed)
who locked their doors. Not us.
My best friend lost his key once.
At school. He was in fourth grade.
It had a baseball key chain in white and red enamel.
His mom had the house rekeyed.
He was grounded for a week
Three weeks
Keeping him inside
Made it safer
—after all,
in a town of friends and neighbors,
you never know who might pick up
that key
and use it to steal
your babies.
I guess, she probably noticed before I did.
The difference—them—that came into town.
They moved in, and everything got that much worse.
I read about it in the papers.