Our Little Secret

We live in a quiet, safe little corner of New Jersey. Most people don't lock their doors, and the honor system still works at the little roadside produce stands where you help yourself and leave your money in the unlocked boxes.

Our house is on a quiet little country lane here in the northeast's version of Mayberry. The neighbors are friendly and look out for each other. All of which makes the rest of the story so bizarre.

At the end of our road, you run into a gated drive. There are signs - private property and no trespassing. Totally out of place. But, because it's so secluded from everyone else, it's never really bothered us. The people who live there keep to themselves and we only occasionally see them drive by.

When we first moved here, we were surprised at how many people couldn't wait to spill the beans on our reclusive neighbors.

It seems that, in our quiet little haven, we moved 3 doors down from... the mafia. The real mafia. Our neighbor was the lawyer for a family whose name you would probably recognize. (I won't name names, but it rhymes with Bambino.)

But we got used to the idea, and haven't really given it much thought in a long time. We just planned to stay out of their way and not do anything to ruffle any feathers.

But now there's a little problem. It seems that the other neighbors are rallying together against him to try to stop him from building onto their compound. Apparently he's been uncooperative with them in the past, and now they want to get together to fight him from being able to get some of the building permits he needs. And they want us to join them???

Okay, I've seen enough of the Godfather movies to know that you don't want to mess the mob. Unless you like waking up with a horse head in your bed. (I don't even like waking up with Isaac in my bed.)

But we like our nice neighbors, and we don't want to get them mad at us, either. So, this weekend, Scott's meeting with some of them. Hopefully we can figure out how to remain neutral without offending the good neighbors or the bad ones! Wish us luck.