Harold was in the process of unpacking a box of stuff when he heard a knock on the door. "Coming!" he called out as he put the dishes down on the counter from the box he was unpacking. He quickly walked his way to the door and opened it to see a rather beautiful brunette standing in his doorway.
"Hi!" she said as she smiled, revealing a row of shiny white teeth. "You must be the new neighbors," she started with a hint of excitement in her voice. "I saw your van coming down the road and I thought I'd introduce myself. My name's Alice. Alice DeCrux, and I live a few houses down from here." She pointed to a house not too far away. "So, you just got here? Where from?"
"Oh, um," Harold's brain started to kick in and snap him from his entranced state. "We're from Michigan. Near Detroit."
"Wow," she exclaimed, her eyes getting wide, "Michigan, huh? Well, welcome to Moon Lake. I'm sure you'll love it here. So, is it just you or is there someone else?"
"Well, um, there is my daughter, Melissa." He turned towards the house and yelled out, "Mel! Come here! There's someone at the door!" After a few moments, Melissa came towards the door and saw the woman standing at the doorway.
"Hello?" Mel said as she approached the door.
"Hi! You must be Melissa. I'm Alice, and I'm your next door neighbor." Mel took a step back, as she was a bit overwhelmed with the woman's friendliness. "I take it you'll be going to school here?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's what we're planning," Harold spoke up, noting his daughter's shyness.
"Great! I'm sure you'll do fine there." Alice turned to Harold and said, "So, I take it that the town chancellor hasn't come and visited you yet?" Alice took a discrete sniff and noted that both of them were still normal.
"No. Why? Should I be expecting a visit?" Harold raised an eyebrow with a bit of surprise.
"Oh, it's no biggie," Alice answered, placing a hand on Harold's arm, "Just a few formalities is all. The town likes to keep track of who moves in and who leaves." Alice then took a look at her watch and said, "Oh look at the time. I need to get going to work. Well, off I go then. It's been great meeting with you two." After shaking Harold's hand, she quickly turned around and made her way to her house.
"Well, she seemed friendly," Harold started as he watched Alice walk away.
"Yeah," Mel responded. She took a look at the expression on her father's face, smirked, and said, "Quite the looker. When are you going to ask her out?"
"Mel!" Harold exclaimed while turning to look at her.
"What? Just saying. It's been a few years since mom died. Don't you think you should, you know, get back into the pond?"
"I will when I'm good and ready, young lady." A scowl appeared on Harold's face. "Besides, she looks a bit too young for me. And don't you have more boxes to unload?"
"Sure sure," Mel responded as she walked back to her bedroom.
Harold sighed as Mel walked away. "This is going to be one of those days," Harold muttered to himself.