Interesting Guy

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when the door bell rang. I opened the door saw a tall, wiry man in jeans, t-shirt and a vest. His hair was grayish and was tied neatly in a pigtail. His face was covered with gray stubbles. He asked me very politely if I knew where number forty-two was. The house that was advertised for rent. I knew the house had been empty for some time. I told him where - next door, behind the convenience store. He said “shieh shieh” and I was a bit surprised because he was not Chinese. He smiled cheekily and I was reminded of a wolf. I thought, what an interesting guy. Was he going to be our new neighbour?

A few minutes later I heard somebody coming into the neighbour's house through the back door. I heard some noises, like somebody was hitting the wall with a hammer. I felt a bit suspicious. Should I have a look? What if there was a gang of thieves there? I was alone at home. What if they saw me and decided to silence me? Should I call the police? Half a minute later the hammering stopped. Phew…, I thought. Perhaps it was just somebody that the owner had asked to repair something in the house.

Several weeks later I found out that the water heating system of the neighbour’s house had been stolen. And I thought of the interesting guy with the pig tail. So he was actually a burglar?? A very well-dressed guy, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, asking for directions to the house he was going to break into, and saying thank you in Chinese??????? Mate, the world has gone mad for sure.