Someone Crying for Help

I don't really like my neighborhood.  At first I was enamoured of it because it was so different than where I had lived before, and I found the people so interesting...and in some cases, scary.  So strange.

Now, I am sick of how ugly it is--people throw trash around, littering.  People pave their garden space in front of their homes.  The culture is very loud.  The people down the street who used to have loud parties until 4am frequently have finally moved away.  My neighbor was happy about that.  The end of an era, she said.  Don't know where they're going, and don't care.

People I thought were just being friendly ask me for jobs around the house, or in the yard.  I don't have the money to pay them.  Sob stories on my porch--"For my granddaughter's birthday..."  Good lord.  When I lived off of Piedmont Avenue, that was the constant line from one beggar, "Trying to get some money for my grandkids."  She lives in a nice house off Piedmont Avenue, and apparently enough people give her money (white guilt) that she does quite well.

And then there is the yelling.  I hear some of the most disturbing things at night.  One night one of my neighbors was having a fight with a very dirty-mouthed, disrespectful man who was wantonly tossing the term, "dirty bitch" around in a menacing way.   It was like the dialog from a bad television show.  Not what I want to hear outside my bedroom window.

The loud party neighbors (the house across the street is also loud, but generally not as late or as frequently--the guy has the weirdest laugh that echos around the porch) had women yelling for an hour sometimes, fighting with someone.   And sometimes they would shout Help or something, but it wasn't serious.  Or was it?  It is impossible to tell.

I can't tell when someone needs help.  And I feel a strong sense that if I interfered in any way, in any of these things, there would be retribution for meddling, or something.  Breaking into my house, hurting the dogs...that type of thing.

Our letter carrier doesn't shut the mailbox.

Anyway, the other night I heard two people talking loudly at 2am on the street, and I heard the woman saying, "No no no no."  and then "Someone please help me!".  She only said it once.  And I wasn't sure if it was a real request since there is so much shouting and yelling around here.  Looking back, I wish I'd called the police, but it stopped soon after that.  My initial reaction is to go out and help a person, but if it is a dangerous situation, that puts me in danger.

And,  I am wondering if my neighbor I used to talk to a lot was involved.  It was in front of his house.

What do you do?
Well, I want to move.  

I want to live in a pretty area with greenery, with trees, and places to walk.   Where I can go outside and help someone who is asking for help, where I know a request for help is genuine, and would be appreciated.