The new neighbours started slowly. We should have recognised the signs but we didn't think we could be that unlucky twice. We were. It started with the eldest boy. He was still at school. Every morning for 30 minutes, before he went to school, he would put his music on - loud. The music was a lot of the F--- word. We were forced to shut our windows and doors. But, we could put up with it. After all it only went on for 30 minutes.
Then, he began wagging school and brought his mates around. The music went on for hours. I have no idea what the boys did in the house, but they were all gone by the time the parents arrived home from work. This happened at least three times a week. We overheard a comment from one of the boys about drugs. Maybe they were inside smoking. I don't know. All I know is they spent all day inside the house, with the music blaring. We had to shut our doors and windows and put fans and air conditioners on. We still couldn't hear ourselves talk. We certainly couldn't think. And, we couldn't hear on the phone when someone rang. We lived for the times when the parents arrived home and all would be quiet.
This continued for weeks. We were getting desperate. Our heads were pounding daily. It was difficult for us to sleep. The boom boom of the music would still echo in our heads long after it was switched off.
One night the parents didn't arrive home on time. The music continued. There was only a few boys left there at this stage. It was about 7.00 pm. I was sitting in our lounge room trying to hear the television - which was hopeless, when I thought I could smell smoke. At first, I ignored it. Finally I had to check it out. I looked outside and saw huge blue flames coming from the neighbours yard. I called my husband to come and have a look. The boys stomped on the fire to put it out. They set fire to the grass again and again stomped on it to put it out. While we watched, the boy next door poured what looked like petrol on the grass. He then set fire to it with a blue flame from a cylinder object. He tried to put it out by stomping on it, but it didn't work. They then tried covering it with a bucket - but that didn't work. The fire was growing bigger by now. Lastly he ran under the house and came back with a small blanket. He beat at the fire continually until it finally went out. I have no idea why. Finally, I yelled out to him to cut it out. All the boys then ran inside the house.
The parents didn't come home that night. They arrived back the next morning. I approached the father of the boy and told him what I had seen. His reply stunned me. He said there was no cylinder object in the house or shed. I again told him what I had seen. He repeated there was no cylinder object in the house or shed. At no time did he say he would speak to his son. His wife was upstairs listening to our conversation. At no time did she come down to speak with me. I heard her yelling at her son about using a blanket to put out the fire. She yelled out that he would have to pay for it. They didn't seem concerned about the fact that their son had set a fire in their backyard.
I was shocked at his uncaring attitude.
The next night, some of the boys mates arrived. The parents were home. The boy and his mates walked over to behind a petrol tanker parked in the street. I saw a flicker of flames and noticed one of the boys underneath the petrol tanker with a cigarette lighter. He was constantly flicking it. A short time later, the flickering of the lighter occurred again. This time the boys were standing behind the tanker, on the footpath, near the electricity pole. They were trying to set fire to the grass on the footpath.
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