When I first moved into this house, there was a small grove of trees across the street. In front of them were three town-run rental houses. There was a Cambodian refugee child living in the house in front of it. He was in the same grade as my son, so we started exchanging greetings. I have a vague memory of calling him Beto-kun.
In the middle house lived a sister and brother. The husband was a heavy drunker and often quarreled with his young wife. Eventually, his wife left him, and he became a widower. His daughter had either gotten married or went out. The husband, who was apparently a fishmonger, would often rage, lying down in front of his house and shouting loudly. I once told him to stop, saying, "It's too noisy and you're disturbing the neighbors." After a while, someone rang the doorbell, and when I went to open it, the husband was holding a Japanese sword and menacingly said, "I have something like this." When I said, "That's amazing," he seemed satisfied and went away. Eventually, the husband became senile, and his daughter took him in. One day, a girl came to visit the son. He was quite tall and handsome. This son also disappeared sometime later. Beto had disappeared a long time ago. In the end, three empty houses remained, and eventually, the land became
To the north, away from the rented house, lived a family of three: a couple and their daughter. I once bumped into the father, a businessman, on the train on my way home, and we became somewhat close. His wife became cancer and was admitted to a hospital in the next town. When his daughter got married and moved away, he also left, saying he wanted to move closer to the hospital so it would be easier to care for his wife. This rented house was demolished much later, and a modern three-story house was built in its place, where a young couple and two elementary school-aged children live. Even now, weeds grow on the vacant lot. Heavy machinery was used to level the land between the vacant lot and the three-story house, and two new houses were built. The properties appear to be for sale. Leveling is still ongoing.