Seeing conspiracies everywhere all started with this weird neighbor of mine.

I never liked that kind of individual. Pompous and full of himself. Every time I get on the street, there he is, looking at me, with that demented look in his eyes. I get busy in the backyard and there he is again, watching me through the small openings in the fence. I never liked that kind of focused stare. Being the shy type, I always pretend like I am not seeing him but his behavior does make me extremely paranoid.

He doesn’t seem to be mean though, just annoying. I understand that he enjoys being with his family, he always seems to be happy when he’s surrounded by his siblings. I never liked that kind of hypocrisy. He seems like a clean dude, smells good, looks good yet he can get pretty ugly, especially when strangers happen to cross through his property. I wonder what he’s hiding in his backyard. He doesn’t even tolerate kids playing hide and seek in there. He protects it like there’s a treasure buried somewhere. If I wasn’t so intimidated by him, I would sneak in and look around. I never liked that kind of secrecy.

Not once has he tried to make contact. Not once has he said “Hello”. He just looks at me, with this strange look, as in every morning when he gets the paper on the front porch. He looks at me, grabs the paper and back inside he goes. I never liked that kind of attitude.

And what’s with this sitting outside in bad weather? Doesn’t he have anything else better to do when it rains? That's not normal ! If only I could muster enough courage. I would cross that fence at night and look around. Maybe there are corpses buried in there. Maybe he’s a psychopath.

I’ll find out. I’ll go through his garbage. I’ve done that before. I’ll find clues. I’ll find out who he is. I’ll find out why he seems to have a better life than I do. I’ll find out what he’s hiding in his backyard. I’ll find out. I never liked that kind of bully...stupid dog... I tell you...if only I wasn’t a cat !

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ETA: This story came along as I was sitting there, one night, bored and started to think "What if animals saw conspiracies in their world...how would conspiracies look like through...the eyes of a cat...for example. And so this story was born...

hmmm..does he think you just stare at him?

maybe he wonders why you never say hello, and you're always poking around in the back trying to look through the fence?

Maybe he knows someone has gone through his garbage?

I think you're being paranoid, and you don't sound like your exactly friendly to him either...and the simple fact that you want to break into his backyard ..look through his garbage..makes you seem more psychopathic than him.

By the way..some people love rain , and like to sit outside and watch..where they can't get wet.

Why don't you try and nice smile and a hello next time you seem him picking up his paper?.. or.. is there another side to this story we aren't getting to hear?

I didn't notice the "short stories" section either.
It was very good.