Domestic dispute

I was about to leave the house this afternoon when I heard a massive ruckus next door. Our houses are joined with a very thin wall separating them so when voices are raised, I can hear every word. 

It was such a heated argument that I actually started to worry. I worried that the kids were home and would get caught up in it. I worried that it would escalate into violence. And I wondered, what the heck am I supposed to do in this situation? 

I decided to stand there in the safety of my own house monitoring the situation through the wall. If it got bad, I'd call the police. From what I could hear the woman had the man bailed up against the wall. She possibly hit him once or twice from what I could hear. He kept repeating "let me go, let me go, let me go so we can talk". Eventually he stormed out and the door slammed. 

I peeked through the curtain to check he wasn't still there and then heard a car pull up and heard the two kids (toddler and baby). So I headed outside to ask if everything was ok. The baby was crying and trying to climb down the stairs to her mum who was talking to a friend in a car on the road. So I said hi to the kids, held the baby's hand so she didn't fall on the concrete steps and checked again that everything was ok. The woman apologized and I just said not to worry, I'm only concerned to see everything's fine. 

So that was my excitement for the afternoon. What would you have done? Just leave the shades drawn and ignore it? 

I feel lucky that I'm on first name and friendly chat terms with the neighbours - both the adults and the little ones - so I'm comfortable enough to go and approach them. If it was one of our other neighbours fighting, it might take a little more guts.