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“Bob, you naughty boy, why do you always go for Liz? She is poor darling. Mummy told you not to pester her. Look here, if you harry her any more, Mummy won’t take you out for a walk. And Liz, come here darling, make up with Bob; he won’t bother you anymore; and don’t you harass him. If you two quarrel any more, Mummy will whack both of you. ”

Pottering about in the garden of her spacious compound, Mrs Rodriguez was admonishing her sweet darling, Bob, a Pekinese and Lizzie, a Siamese cat. This is a scene very familiar to me, for this repeats almost every evening. Sitting in our garden, I often listen to this sort of tete – a – tete between Mrs Rodriguez and her darlings. It is really amusing to watch this old lady going on chatting away endlessly with Bob and Liz in this one – sided conversation.

An Ideal Neighbor

I have no idea how long Mrs Rodriguez had been living next door to us. My parents say that she was there when our family moves into this neighborhood some twenty years ago; that is, three years before I born. She was widowed, I understand, in her forties. Now she is well over sixty and childless. In that large bungalow that sprawls over almost half the area of a one – acre plot, Mrs Rodriguez lives with a live – in – amah (maid), a short, stout Javanese woman. Over the compound which is surrounded on all sides by a well – kept, weekly trimmed hedge, hangs an atmosphere of blessed peace and serenity.

Here the tall, stately casuarinas and the graceful bamboos sway gently in the afternoon breeze, creating an almost silent symphony that adds more to the absolute quiet of the premises. The well – trimmed hedge, the spick and span compound where one can never see litter lying about, the neatly mown lawn, the well – cared for garden and flower beds and above all that air of heavenly peace that seems to reign over the whole place – all these, in silent eloquence, declare the character and personality of Mrs Rodriguez. She is an ideal neighbor.