nonsensical neighbor

the sun was setting and it was a warm, but comfortable, early summer evening. i was just getting ready to read my book out on the porch swing  for one last time. the dogs were out with me, on their little tie-outs, barking sporadically at the neighbor dog across the street. life was complete. 

almost.

the dogs started barking more consistently and loudly- i looked at them and realized that spencer the neighbor was waiting at the base of the porch steps to come up… waiting because he knows that myla will eat his face off if they’re on the same level. i ran over to reign in myla, pleased to see my favorite neighbor.

spence came and sat on the porch swing with me and chatted my ear off. he told me he’s in kaleidoscope, a day care program at his school, and when i asked him if he had any girlfriends, he said, “stop the swing!” he jumped off, ran into the bushes and pretended to puke. then he got back on the swing like nothing happened. i asked again, saying, “i guess you don’t have any girlfriends!” and he said, “uh, NOOOO.” this is one of the reasons I love spence.

another reason that i love spence is his shruggy-shoulder, moving-head move. this is his signature move. if i had to explain it, let's say on a blog or something, i would say that he does this thing with his shoulders: kind of shrugs them, one at a time, a few times in a row, and moves his head side to side. sometimes he moves his hands up in a ‘i don’t know’ type of gesture. it reminds me of the weird dance that charlie brown and the peanut characters do to music, sort of a weird upper body shuffle, if you will. this is my favorite spence move of all time. and when i see it, my heart melts and my eyes crinkle up in a smiling laugh.

spence did a new move last night, it was called “the bukani dance” (pronounced ‘boo-can-eee’). this may sound like some wonderful ethnic dance he learned at kaleidoscope, but it is, in fact, a made-up song and dance, authored by none other than spence. the dance includes (many) high kicks, fake face punches to yourself, and weird, backward movements that run you across the grass, eventually fading into a fake face-punch that lands you on the ground, legs still kicking in the air. the song is nonsensical: lots of repetition of the word ‘bukani’ and sound effects for the face punches. each face punch is also accompanied by a jerky head movement, leaving you to believe that spence may have actually punched himself in the face. the dance ends with him on the ground, legs kicking and song fading away as his voice (and punching sounds) croak into nothingness. i know this is the way the dance goes, because i asked him to do it again, and he did it the exact same way. when I asked him to explain it, he said, ‘it’s a Dumbo dance!’ and left it at that.

then he asked me to make up a song and dance for him. i did dance for him, but made him sing. he made up a song about the stars, fake airplanes and dogs. my dance was not the bukani, and not nearly as entertaining nor as skilled. i think i used some old ballet moves and a lot of jazz hands. 

we then spent about twenty minutes trying to figure out if he could fit in the wooden box on my porch. this box was built by my landlord to accept parcel deliveries, however, the mailman never puts anything in it. spence jumped in and crouched down, squishing up as much as possible. he tried, though, an honorable ten times or so, to get low enough for the box lid to shut. each time he got out and then got back in, in the exact same position, just trying harder to squish his head down. he never did make it.

when i mentioned that i would be going to bed soon, he looked up at me with his big blue eyes and said, 'BYE!' with a little wave, and ran down the porch and into the night. 

i hope my new neighbors are this much fun.