Neighbors #writephoto

23 Replies
Photo by KL Caley

I was walking down a residential section of the city when I stopped to look at the two doors.  I smiled and gave the doors a tip of my black hat.  It was possible I found my man.

Or whatever you call them.

A man walked out of the well-lit Number 4, stole a frightened glance at the darkened Number 2, then started to walk away.

“Sir, one moment,” I said.

The guy jumped.  Then spun around.  I could see beads of sweat appear on his forehead.  People often don’t see me, so that he walked past me without a second glance isn’t surprising, but that frightened reaction, well….

“I was just admiring your door,” I said.  “Do you and your neighbor coordinate?”

He glanced at the doors as if they were charging T-Rexes.  He swallowed.

“Erm, well, no.  I don’t know why does it.  My evil twin, I guess.”

He looked at me with a weird expression.  I know wearing sunglasses when it is a bit dark is odd, but you’d think I had three heads, like the Cerberoids from Sirius 4.

“Your evil twin?”

“Ha ha.  A little joke.”  His face was white, so I knew it wasn’t a joke. “He seems to do everything I do.  Odd.  I once saw a movie were a person slowly became more and more like her roommate until she…  Anyway, I have to run.  Nice chatting with you.”

The man turned and half ran down the street, glancing over his shoulders as if half the Persian Army was after him.

A few minutes later someone came out of Number 2. 

“Hi Sir,” I said.

The man was dressed exactly like his neighbor.  His mannerisms were even similar.

“Uhm, hello.”

“I didn’t think anyone was home there.  Were you stumbling around in the dark?”

His head turned in a way impossible for a human.  He looked at the darkened windows of his apartment.

“No, you must have missed it.  I just turned off the lights two seconds ago.  Right.”

I pulled out my blaster.

“OK, Mr. Tau Ceti 3, you have violated Galactic Immigration Code Paragraph 27429.  You are really, really an illegal alien.  You are coming with me.”

The man’s face dropped.

“Darn, Mr. Man in Black, how did you know?”

“You Chameleons Tau Ceti 3 are easy to spot.”

“Chameleons?”

“Yeah, you blend in too well.”

The Chameleon followed me back to the hidden base without a problem.  I knew he wouldn’t and could have taken him without the blaster, but why risk it?

There are some parts of the job I don’t really like, but I do hope Mr. Number 4 is a little more comfortable with his neighbor now missing. And the Chameleon never would have taken over his life. Now if it were Soul-Vamp from Betelgeuse…

***

The idea of Men in Black predates the movies by several decades.  There was a rumor that every time there was a UFO sighting or an alien abduction, mysterious men in black suits were seen.  Often they weren’t seen at the time, but later discovered in photographs.  Men in black even appeared in the Coneheads movie 4 years before the first MiB movie.

***

This was written for the writephoto challenge hosted by KL Caley. See this week’s challenge here.

23 thoughts on “Neighbors #writephoto”

  1. Pingback: #Writephoto Round-Up – Neighbours – New2Writing

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. In the late 80s I met someone who was writing a rock and roll musical about it. I kept my eyes open after that and saw a few references (like int the Coneheads movie), so it was quite the pleasant surprise when the movie MiB came out. I have no idea whatever happened to the guy writing the musical – I hope he was the one who sold the idea for the screen play to the movie ;)

      Liked by 1 person

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          You just didn’t see them or remember seeing them… lol. The idea is nobody remembes them, but they show up in all of the photos, so no photos, no MiB…..
          I think I did read that post, but I’ll go take a look.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Willow. When the movie came out I was surprised that most people I knew had never heard those urban legends. To me it made the movie that much funnier.

      Like

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  7. Ocean Bream

    This was so awesome, I love that this story came out of that photo. I love your story mind lol. Also the little note at the end gave me some shivers. So the Men in Black movies were based on some type of ‘folklore’. ‘Often they weren’t seen at the time but later discovered in photos’. Eerie! The story was intriguing, creepy yet also funny at the end!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Exactly, the whole men in black thing was a type of urban legend. That nobody ever saw them but they showed up in all of the photos was part of the folklore behind it. It wasn’t really mainstream and I stumbled on it by accident (maybe some day I’ll do a post), The movie did put a lot of those little details from the urban legends, which made it better for us who understood where it came from.
      Thanks, I’m glad you liked the story :)

      Liked by 1 person

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