A young man moves into an apartment on a street with lots of vacant housing. There's something not quite right about the adjacent property. The garden is silent-- no chirping birds, not even crickets.

Perhaps because I've lived in cities where you can hear your neighbor sneeze, you know the music that they like, their pacing the floor habits, this one, while not scary, seeped into my psyche and has taken up residence.

You just never know what your neighbors are up to exactly, do you? And what if they are summoning evil? This story was brought up in a classic ghost story group and someone commented that Aleister Crowley loved this story and gave out copies to his friends. Hmmm...

It's a bit long, simple--or, if there is depth, subplot or wink wink symbolism I totally missed it. The narrator's naivete at the end is annoying. I really liked it though, for all that. Were I a film-maker, I'd be figuring out how to work the ending and looking for the perfect location to start filming. This could be a terrific short film. It's very visual.

The number 19 will, going forward, summon images of dread in a sinister garden for me.
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