Dear Wigleaf,

I know almost nothing about my neighbors, but I have my theories. I think the man who lives alone in a five-bedroom house is a bounty hunter and/or a hitman. He goes missing for weeks at a time, before his SUV returns covered in mud, sometimes with dented parts.

We suspect the neighbors who live behind us are in a cult. There are six of them, from a two-year-old to a man who must be in his sixties. They keep their curtains open, so we know they have a Christmas tree, even in May, and for an hour each week, the lights in their house turn red.

The family who lives beside us we are fairly sure is in witness protection. They are the friendliest of our neighbors, but there is something about the way they speak, as if every story has been rehearsed, every anecdote acted out beforehand. It's also possible they are aliens, still trying to learn our language.

It's funny, living next to people who are as strange to us as any stranger you'd pass on the street. Maybe there's something to be said about that, how we can put our trust in unknown people to share the back of their yard with ours. As a writer, all I want to do is understand people better, but as a human, it's kind of nice when I don't even know where to start.

Sincerely,
Matt