The New Neighbor

By Keelie Davis

It was a beautiful spring evening in Alivia’s neighborhood. The sounds of the street whistled through her ears as she sat on her front porch. The sound of children at play and birds chirping. She could tell that people were in their backyards grilling as the smell reached her nostrils every time the wind blew. As she was basking in the warm, setting sun, a loud slam made her jump to her feet. She turned her head and saw a moving truck.

“Mr. and Mrs. Williams are moving?” Alivia thought to herself. She was not happy with this news. “I don’t want new neighbors, I like my current ones,”

Alivia ran inside to tell her parents.

“You already knew?” Alivia asked her mom.

“Yes, honey we have known for a little while,”

“But I don’t want them to move,” Alivia said sadly.

“Oh Liv, don’t worry these new neighbors will be just as good,” her dad explained.

She then said her goodnights to each of them, before heading downstairs to her bedroom.

Alivia began to ponder in her head what her new neighbors could look like. Would they be older or younger? Would they have kids, and would there be someone her age? Alivia then decided she didn’t care what they looked like; she still did not want new people living next to her. Even though she didn’t care, Alivia still ended up falling asleep dreaming of the people who may move in next door.

Alivia would wake up each day and check to see if there were any new moving trucks in front of the empty house. After a few days, there were still no new neighbors. Alivia began to get excited as she hoped no one was going to move in after all, but just as she was getting up to check again, she unfortunately heard a loud slam like the one she had heard a few days prior. Alivia then sprinted upstairs to the nearest window. As she peered through, she saw the family getting out of their vehicle.

She saw a mom, dad, and two kids. One of the kids seemed to be older, but the second seemed to be around her age. “At least if I have two new neighbors, I may get to make a friend,” she thought.

As she was watching out the window, her mom came up beside her. “Alivia, you know it isn’t nice to stare. Come have some breakfast and after that we will go meet them,”

That is when Alivia ran to the table, and before her family knew it, her plate was gone.

“I thought you didn’t want new neighbors,” Alivia’s brother Jude remarked as the family packed up some extra food to take over.

“I didn’t before I knew they would have a girl around my age,” Alivia responded.

“It’ll be nice to have a new friend,” her dad added.

As the family walked over, Alivia skipped. She was excited to find out who this new neighbor girl was. As they reached the front door and Alivia’s dad was about to knock, Alivia beat him to it. As the door opened and a female figure appeared, Alivia was all smiles, but she knew to let her parents speak first.

“Hi, we are your next-door neighbors and we wanted to bring you guys some breakfast as a welcome to the neighborhood,” Alivia’s mom explained.

“Hello! Thank you so much, it means a lot to our family to already see caring people around us, The woman who Alivia guessed was the mom said, “Would you like to come in and meet the rest of the family quick?”

Alivia was ready to sprint straight through the door but walked politely into what was going to be the family’s living room.

“So, I am Allison, this is my husband James, my son Jeffree and my daughter Megan,” she said as the family waved.

“This is Alivia and Jude. I am Ashley and this is my husband Donnie,” Alivia’s mom said as their family returned the gesture.

As the grownups began to talk, and Jude started to talk to Jeffree, Alivia decided this was the perfect time to introduce herself to Megan.

As they began to talk, Megan invited Alivia to the backyard.

“Do you like plants, Alivia?” She asked as they headed around the house.

“Actually, I do!” Alivia exclaimed.

When they opened the gate, there was a small tree with a yellow stringy flower that Alivia hadn’t seen before.

“This is called witch hazel. It used to grow in my backyard back in Georgia. My mom said I could bring this small tree with me, even though it may not survive. All I wanted was a little piece of home for a bit.”

“I have never seen that before, but it is really pretty, Alivia said glancing at the plant again, “Maybe we can find you a different flower to like now that you have a new home.”

That’s when Megan and Alivia looked at each other with smiles on their faces, knowing that they were already going to be the best of friends.