坐在圓桌旁，吃著麥片早餐。突然，透過紗窗門，看到一個瘦削的男子，在後院悄悄走近。他左手藏在衣服內，眼低低地瞄向這裡。絕不是查電表的，他一定是從後院門溜進來的。後院門不知怎地又傾斜，關不起來了。裡面暗，他應該是沒看到我。
不像鴿子，有人迫近，就馬上嚇得扭脖子、展翅高飛。我站了一會兒，拿起照相機，準備拍照;可是從紗窗門瞄出去，人已經不見蹤跡。不可能從竹籬跳走;否則我會聽到聲響。
我很大力地開關紗窗門，好幾次。想把自己的驚嚇嚇走;我將衣服掛在外面晾曬，表示有人，以防他再回來。他一定是從破竹籬洞溜走的。我摸摸了破木板，還有釘子粘著。一推就懸掛搖晃在空中。
左邊半年前換得竹籬。花了一千元和隔壁左鄰分攤。由她僱人換新。這右邊竹籬要換，也得先徵求右鄰意見。估價四百元，讓她分攤四分之一就好。
右鄰不知哪來的頭腦邏輯，她說她已經花錢換了一邊，另一邊屬於我們的。”這塊不是很小嗎?”
“哦!”真是萬沒想到有這種回答。
第二個星期，我就請人將後院門修好。門有些傾斜，關不起來。敲彎了的鎖，再敲平回去。房子地基有問題。地下、牆上出現長條裂縫，許多問題有待解決。不過，還是先把竹籬巴破洞修補起來。再趕快請人換新吧!
竹籬為防宵小;卻將人分隔開來，有了距離。像幾年前待在北部時，沒有圍籬，鄰居容易相互守望。還真希望擁有沒有圍籬的世界多好!
I sat at the round table, eating grain meal for breakfast as usual. A skinny guy lowered his eyelids and walked a way, stepping very softly toward the backyard with his left hand hidden under his shirt. Undoubtedly, he was not a meter reader from the electrical company. He slipped from our gate, which couldn’t be closed for quite a while.It happened before. I assumed that he couldn’t see me because of the darkness inside. Unlike a scared pigeon turning its neck, whipping its wings to fly away when someone approached at it, I paused and stood up, and then picked up a camera. As I peered through the long, screen door again, he had already slipped away through the broken fence. He did not jump over fence, or I would have heard the noise.
I slammed shut the screen door many times. I tried to make loud noises to scare away my fear. I hung the clothes in the backyard to let him know that someone was at home and hopefully to keep him from returning. The wooden board on the fence had been broken. When I pushed it, it would sway in the air leaving a hole there.
The fence on the left side had been replaced for a half a year. It cost one thousand dollars, which I shared with my left next door neighbor. So I asked my right side next door neighbor
whether she could share one hundred dollars cost of the paying only one fourth.
She said, “That fence belong to you, I’ve already paid for a new fence on the other side of the fence. This one is also much smaller than the other side.”
“Ah!” It was a big surprise me to hear such amixed up logic in her answer.
I was also puzzled how the man could slip through the broken old fence, just a three-inch width gap.The back yard gate, it was tilted to one side and couldn’t be closed again.
“How did he go through three-inch gap? It might not be his first time to do so.” I hired someone to fix the gate the next week. It also reminded me that our house foundation had been damaged. The cracks appeared on the floor and wall. Too many problems need to be solved, But anyway, replacing the fence at our own cost was be my top priority.
Fences are like walls between the houses in the neighborhood. They keep away from people. Well, I still like a “no fence” community better, so that neighbors can easily look out for each other, like when we lived in the north a few years ago.
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