The Brown Family Files
What They Saw From the Other Side
While everyone on the west side of Jackson Street was dealing with Dorothy’s increasingly unhinged behavior toward Ralph, the Brown family on the east side had been keeping their own disturbing records.
Gerald Brown, his wife Patricia, and their twenty-eight-year-old daughter Shanice lived directly behind Dorothy’s house. Their kitchen window and back porch had a perfect view of Dorothy’s backyard, her shed, and the side of her house where the driveway was that no one on the other side could see.
They’d been watching Dorothy’s disturbing behavior from a completely different angle.
And what they had seen was somehow even worse.
It started about three months ago. Gerald was having his morning smoke on the back porch when he noticed Dorothy in her backyard with gardening tools.
Gerald Brown: “Baby! Come look at this.”
Patricia came out, coffee mug in hand.
Patricia Brown: “What?”
Gerald Brown: “Dorothy’s clearing out a spot or something next to her shed. All those bushes and used lumber.”
Patricia Brown: “Well at least she’s not complaining about doing yard work.”
Gerald Brown: yada yada yada!
They watched as Dorothy hacked away at the bushes with unusual intensity, wearing her signature bonnet—a camouflage one to match with her camouflage pants.
Gerald Brown: “Why is she dressed like she’s going hunting?” (thinking to himself)
It took Dorothy three days to clear that spot completely. Then she dragged out an old lawn chair, positioned it in the shadows by the shed, and sat down facing the back of Ralph and Keisha’s house.
And she just… sat there.
For hours.
Patricia Brown: “Gerald, what is she doing?”
Gerald Brown: “Looks like she’s watching something.”
They followed her line of sight. She was staring directly at Ralph’s carport, which was partially visible from that angle through a gap in the fence.
Patricia Brown: “Oh Lord, could she be…you think she’s watching that man.”
That evening, Shanice came home from work and joined her parents on the porch for dinner.
She immediately noticed Dorothy in the spot she had cleared out
Shanice Brown: “How long has she been sitting there?”
Gerald Brown: “Shit since 4:30 and it’s 7:15 now you do the math.”
Shanice Brown: “That’s almost three hours!”
Patricia Brown: “Yep.”
They watched as Ralph’s truck pulled into his carport. Dorothy sat up straighter in her chair, leaning forward like a hunting dog that just caught a scent.
Shanice Brown: “This is creepy, like really creepy.”
Patricia Brown: “Should we say something to somebody?”
Gerald Brown: No, And tell them what?
Your neighbor sits in her backyard by her shed? That ain’t illegal.”
But they all knew it wasn’t normal either.
A week later, things escalated.
Patricia was washing dishes around 10 PM when she glanced out the kitchen window and saw Dorothy’s silhouette moving in her backyard. But she wasn’t in her chair. She was standing on something—a step stool—trying to look over the fence at Ralph’s house.
Patricia Brown: “GERALD! Get in here!”
Gerald Brown: “What? What happened?”
Patricia Brown: “Look!”
They watched as Dorothy, in her nightgown and bonnet, stood on her tiptoes on the step stool on her side of the fence, straining to see into what must have been Ralph’s and Keisha’s bedroom window.
Gerald Brown: “I know she’s not doing what I think she’s doing Is she…”
Patricia Brown: “She’s trying to look in their window! At 10 PM! In her nightgown!”
Shanice came downstairs for a late night snack and saw her parents staring out the window.
Shanice Brown: “What’s up what are you guys looking at out there?”
Patricia Brown: “Your dad is playing detective and is expecting a crime is about to happen.
They watched Dorothy lose her balance slightly, catch herself, then carefully step down from the stool. She stood in her backyard for a moment, looking frustrated, then went back inside her house.
Her light stayed off, but they could see the bright glow of something—probably her phone or a flashlight—moving around inside.
Shanice Brown: “Y’all I don’t think she’s sleeping. I think she’s staying up to watch him.”
Patricia Brown: “All night?”
Shanice Brown: “Look at her house. Have y’all seen her with the lights on at any time of the day?”
Gerald and Patricia looked at each other.
Their daughter was right. Dorothy’s house was always dark during the day but showed activity at night.
Gearld Brown: “She’s nocturnal, like a bonnet-wearing raccoon”
The really disturbing patterns emerged over the next few weeks.
To be continued………