Sid

I'm not too crazy about snow. Snow is a novelty that wears out quickly living in the burbs. The beauty of a white blanket of snow covering your home quickly vanishes when the reality of cleaning your driveway dawns upon you. So here I was with hand in shovel preparing for the worst later tonight since I know I would pay for it with an aching back. As I was shoveling, I glanced up and I saw my neighbor three houses down cleaning his neighbor's driveway with his snowblower. He had already completed cleaning his driveway and his walkway. He was concentrated in his work for that morning making sure that any hint of snow was left undetectable on his property.

He's a man in his late 70's, short, with pudgy fingers, and a gravelly voice who I'll call Sid (only cause he looks more like a Sid than his actual name). Sid retired ten years ago from I don't remember what and spends his time (or in this case, his morning) waiting for things to happen. When I first moved to the neighborhood, Sid knocked on my door. He welcomed me to Teaneck and told me a little about the previous owner. (One thing I didn't want to know was that the owner past away in his bedroom, not in a hospital somewhere as we would have liked to have thought.)

He had a reputation on the block as the neighborhood watchdog, looking out for suspicious characters or to keeps tabs on everyone's pet in case one went astray. He was also a self proclaimed key guardian. Apparently, people on the block entrusted him with the keys to their homes in case they happened to lose them or if a police officer needed to get in for whatever reason. When we first moved to our home last spring, I was in the middle painting a bedroom when he knocked on my door so I still had my paintbrush in my hand which I found out was a clever excuse to give a hint to my fellow neighbors that I was too busy with something and had no time to be bothered. This didn't work with Sid. Sid kept on telling me more about himself and his lawn and insisted that my keys would be safe in his keeping.

I kindly refused his offer since I had no intention of giving an absolute stranger open reign to my new home. A long time ago, my family's apartment was robbed. We never were able to figure out who it was until one day my sister and I stayed home from school and as we were watching the Price is Right, our neighbor from downstairs comes walking from our parents room and into our living room. It was like a moment frozen in time where we both looked at one another wondering what the hell was he doing in our apartment? His excuse was that he was doing something or other on the roof and confused our apartment with his. Likely story.

Sid is often found watering his lawn before sunrise during the summer or taking out his leaf blower each morning and later in the afternoon for those few remaining leaves that are eventually blown onto the sidewalk. His garage is immaculate as he tends to it each morning at around 7am inspecting that all items are in their place. I tend to be that way at times when there's a slow day at work. I find myself organizing all my pencils and pens, fixing the position of my monitor so I get the least glare and adjusting my notes that are clipped to my wall so I have quick access to them. When weather permits, he'll take his car out of the garage and drive it around the block and leave it on his driveay. He drives it back inside when most of the neighbors are home from work.

By the time I finished cleaning my driveway at 7am, he was working on something that wasn't too clear to me. It looked like he was making sure that the snow was piled evenly along the sides of his driveway as he patted down certain snow banks. Watching him, I wondered if that's what's in store for me.