My neighbor is cheating on me.

The dogs and I have this normal routine - a walk in the morning and another in the evening that always takes us past the sweet, quiet, gray haired neighbor who seems to be perpetually raking leaves or watering his yard. The same sweet, predictable schedule. He would bestow upon me (and sometimes the dogs) the same slightly shy little smile and wave whenever we walk by. We made a real breakthrough - really bonded - when he started giving me the little wave from afar when I would get home from work in the short walk from my car to my front door.

He *always* says hello when I walk by his yard - and only to me. In all the time I've lived next to him, I've never once heard him say hello or wave to anyone else on the street. Those were just me for me. I was special. Who could blame me for feeling slightly smug? Just a little bit superior to the rest of the neighbors because *I* was the chosen one - who got the quiet old man to smile and wave.

Imagine my shock when, on this evening's walk I catch him red handed! Cheating on me! He says hello *and* waves to a neighbor ACROSS the STREET! Can you imagine the betrayal I felt? Intimacy shattered and my heart broken with this seemingly innocent act of infidelity.

Those smiles and waves were just for me, dammit!! How could he do this to me? Doesn't he know how hard I worked to get those small signs of affection from him?

I don't think I'll recover.

Oi, I need to find a new job... this is what my life has been reduced to. A drama queen with no drama is worse than an aging drag queen with no lipstick.