Gibran’s Needs
The neighbour has a hacking cough. It’s all I know of the human-shaped being under the regular, repeated and ragged coughing. I have no other alliterations; like I have no other information about the neighbour but if I do suddenly develop scrofula, you’ll know it was the coughing neighbour.
In the brief periods when my neighbouring hack is silent, it’s silent. Mind you, there’s also the other neighbour across the street. Busy corner neighbour. There’s always a delivery van or car pulling up at the gate and beeping. The dog goes ballistic and it’s that wonderful suburban Joburg cacophony. Just missing the shrieking child. This corner appears to be childless at first glance and certainly so at first sound. If you can hear anything above hacker and busy corner.
Oh wait, there’s also the neighbour in the shared yard. Shared yard neighbour’s presence has so far (thankfully) only extended to the clanging of the metal gate on exit and entry; having various brightly coloured little cars pulling up and beeping. Some just screech to a stop and remain idling away noisily. Then the clanging of the gate and an eruption of some foreign language. Between hacker, busy corner and shared yard neighbours, you might well start to imagine the shape of daily life over the past weeks.
Still Life it is not. Still, Life’s needs must needs be done. Gibran said that or something like that. And spell checker, our old faithful AI pet wants nothing to do with Gibran’s needs must needs be done. Spell checker insists: ‘It needs to be done.’ Or it offers ‘Gibran’s needs’ as the other option.
Okay, I can live with Gibran’s needs. Allegedly, if the stories are to be believed, his needs were few. And there is that other famously misquoted thing about a few changing the world and all that. Or was it about the few changing light bulbs. It’s a bit tricky to gather it all and hold it and recall it all while between hacker, busy corner and shared yard neighbours. But before I forget, there is also the across neighbour. I’ve no idea if they’re actually cross. But they are literally across the street and have so far remained (mostly silent) on their side of the street.
But back to Gibran’s needs and the doing the needful while not being too needy. Being geeky though is okay. Someone once told me how she wooed a boy who was no geek by regularly telling him what a geek he was. And he found it so charming he nearly fell for her 90-day fiancé scam. I should ask her over and assign her the task of wooing my neighbouring hacker. She can start by telling hacker how healthy she is.
Mind you, let me not make it seem that it’s entirely like a crazy place all the time. That would be unfair to hacker, busy corner, shared yard and across neighbours. Not a good start to being the new neighbour. I’m tempted to have a look at what Gibran might have to say about neighbours. I seem to recall he might have gone near that topic in his treatise ‘The Prophet.’ I’ve searched out and among the few possessions and my copy of Gibran is nowhere to be seen. I am left bereft without Gibran’s wisdom on the neighbours. Thus ends this introduction to the neighbours. Mind you, we’ve not got to the (hopefully) interesting bits about the neighbours yet. But Gibran’s needs, needs be done first. But first coffee.
Gibran’s Needs is a footnote. The story will write itself though someone still has to do the needful.
© Jesh Baker for Oppi Stoep 2024, All Rights Reserved
