What Exactly Do the Neighbors Do?

 They don’t seem

To work

And that’s, you know

That’s their business

I’m not interested

In being one of those people

Who goes on about

How people who don’t seem

To be working

Can seem to, you know,

Just live

Just have a life

Because I’m not saying

They’re going on vacations

Extravagant vacations

Or anything like that

I mean, they could be

I don’t know everything

About how they’re living

But the thing right off the bat

That I can tell you is that

Their apartment has the same rent

As the one we’re living in has

And it is not cheap, let me tell you

That’s to say nothing of the heating

The electricity

I can hear a television

So they have a television

Whether they have cable or not

I don’t know

But even with just that

All of that

And food

Don’t forget food

And a car

A nice car

Not a new car

Not a sports car

But a nice car

That I assume they have to insure

And put gas in

With all of that

You have to wonder

What they do for work

Now, now--I will say

That these days, you know

People work from home

They can make a good living

From home

But my husband

He told me

That he saw them

Getting their mail downstairs

And he struck up a conversation with them

Because he’s very friendly, my husband

Always has to say ‘Hello’ to everyone

Which can be annoying

But it’s just how he is

Not like I can do anything about that

I complain about it

But after awhile you just, uh--

But he struck up a conversation with them

And they told him

That they’re both freelancers, writers, which--

I mean, you’d have to be

You’d have to be, uh

A New York Times

Bestselling author or--

To be able to afford

The kind of life that I have

That I work very hard for

In order to cover the costs of it all

I asked my husband

If he asked them

What kind of writing they do

Because I suppose, uh

If they’re writing

For USA Today

Or something like that

Then, yes, I guess

They could afford

To live in the building

And get by just fine and--

She’s pregnant

The wife

I didn’t mention that

So now you’re going to be adding

A child to all those--

All those childcare costs

And you have to ask yourself

How are they doing it?

Two freelance writers?

And I don’t see them

Doing anything all that crazy

In terms of spending

But I see her walking

And out in the common area

Just talking on her phone

Sometimes for an hour

And you have to wonder

When she’s getting any work done?

And maybe he’s the one

Pulling in the bulk of the, uh

Of their income

But that would mean

He’d have to be writing

Again, books?

Books that get movie deals?

And we don’t live

With those kinds of people

We’re not some fancy building

Some high-rise

We’re just middle-class people

But you have to work
And so, you know…

It’s really none of my business

But!

You have to think about it

Don’t you?

It’s just something

To think about