Last night the phone chirped around 7 p.m. It was our next door neighbor, Pete.

" Go outside and look east, " was what Pete said on the phone.

We went outside. Looked up and east and there it was: The moon in the mysterious process of being eclipsed. Donna and I knew this was going to happen, but we saw the clouds take over just before dinner.

" Looks like we're not going to be seeing it, " I said.

And we would not have, had it not been for Pete. Pete's a good neighbor, as is his wife, Judy. He goes fishing and shares his catch with us. I cook meatloaf ricotta and bring it over to them. Judy baked up a batch of cookies today. We got some.

Pete was in the hospital last week. Donna drove Judy up there to see him. Judy's not crazy about driving up I-95.

As Donna and I stood on the deck last evening, looking up and east, I looked around the neighborhood. Nobody else was out watching the moon. The people next door have three little kids. If I had three little kids, and there was a total eclipse of the moon, I'd be out there. With my wife. Looking up, looking east, and whispering " Wow. "

Neighbors. Good ones are rare, like total eclipses. They come once or twice in a blue and red moon.