All About Neil

Don't think that I've abandoned you guys, but we've been pretty busy around here. For starters, Neil moved in.

Neil Patric Miraj Plumb, of course, is my nephew, the son of my brother Noah and his wife, Sadie. His mother is of Pakistani origin, and I probably know more about her heritage than she does. Her grandfather, Iqbal Alvi, immigrated from Pakistan after the Great War. What I found interesting was that he came from Pakistan just before my grandfather, Nigel Plumb, left England and arrived in Sunset Valley. What I also found interesting, from looking at the archives in the library, is that Iqbal Alvi and Nigel Plumb were neighbors on the other side of town, even though they never met!

I wasn't quite sure how Neil would take living with us Anglo-Saxon bluebloods, given his mixed heritage. He has the Pakistani blood on his mother's side, and on his father's side there's Italian, French, English, Irish, Welsh, and no telling what else. He's a true mutt.

Anyway, before I went into this digression, we've discovered that Neil is an odd fellow. Really, he is. He opted to run all the way to the military quarters on the other side of town instead of taking one of the four vehicles on the property. Why? He wanted to take handiness classes there. Apparently he's an adept with tools. Dad said Noah was like that, too, and he wondered where they got it from because it certainly did not come from him, lol.

We also think Neil has his mom's OCD trait because he checks the stoves about four times a day, he makes all the beds at least twice, he brushes his teeth until they bleed, and he scrubs the dishes at least twice even though the maid comes in and puts them in the dishwasher.

I overheard Neil and Bassy going over algebra very late at night -- and of course, given that they're teenage boys, they go over a lot of, well, other, things too. "Hey, how you like the house?" I heard Bassy ask.

"It's all right, I guess," Neil heaved a sigh. "Why can't I figure this stuff out?"