I have worked this entry over in my mind several times, but keep coming up with the same conclusion.

I don't like it.

The conclusion, I mean, not the entry.

Even in small towns, the heat gets to people. And events occur that you do not expect. At least, we do not expect.

The wife and I were out on the front porch (not that we have a back porch, but how else would you know we were out front facing the street?) yesterday evening, enjoying the cool air and the 3-foot windchimes. Also visiting, which seems to be a rarity for us.

We were interrupted by shouting across the intersection. Near as I can piece it together, the guy maintaining the old lady's lawn across the intersection had taken a 5-foot branch that had blown down, and thrown it into the street.

In principle, that's okay, because the town hires local kids for the summer to do their groundskeeping, and sooner or later they will drive their truck down the street and pick up the branch.

If they know you, and aren't too busy, they will even occassionally pick up branches that fall in your yard. That's okay too, because technically most of these trees are the town's trees.

Anyway, the old lady's neighbor apparently found the branch laying immediately in front of his pickup, and flipped it back onto the lawn.

This got the lawn guy pissed off, and words were being exchanged. Loud, angry words.

Been a hot summer.

Finally lawn guy made a clumsy charge and a swing at the neighbor, who deftly stepped out of the way and began backing up to his fenced lawn.

After picking himself up, lawn guy also picked up the 2"-thick branch and, carrying it over his head, began pursuing the neighbor. Neighbor picked up a shovel, and began swinging it over his head, too, with the low chain link fence between them.

Wife muttered "oh, god." as this had escalated to the point where someone could get seriously hurt.

I, on the other hand, was amazed at how much the two of them looked just like young male gorillas, trying to intimidate each other with noises and big sticks.

Lawn guy soon backed down, and with loud words to establish his territory, threw the stick back into the street in front of the truck.

Probably would have been the end of it, but the stick bounced up, and one end hit the grill of the truck.

We're talking an old truck here, one built out of real metal and unlikely to be damaged by a bouncing stick.

But neighbor saw the accidental attack on his dear property, and came on the charge. Lawn guy wisely backed off.

No damage to be found, but neighbor smashed the stick in two, and threw both pieces back on the lawn. Another territorial attack.

Lawn guy feels threatened again, and swings at the neighbor with his hat.

His attack is repulsed by a wop on the head with a lawn mower basket.

Neighbor retreats again, and then sees the town cop driving by a block away. He runs and shouts, and lawn guy not-so-casually hops on his bike and peddles home (one block).

Cop arrives and he and the neighbor inspect the truck, but apparently find nothing reportable. He sees us on the porch, but never asks for our version of events. I was glad, and did not go down to offer an opinion.

Tension will be high around here now. On television, one of these two men would make a grand gesture that saves the life or career of the other, and they'd be friends for life. But in real life, this feud may last for years. Or forever.

But, in preparing this entry, two things have occurred to me.

One, the whole incident would have gone away if lawn guy had simply flipped the branch into the other street, not near any vehicles.

And two, the whole incident could have been defused by someone casually walking up, taking the offending stick from the scene, and leaving. Perhaps with some comedic comment about having been looking for that lost stick all day.

I saw that solution right away, before they began waving their sticks at each other over the fence.

But I did not do it.

I wasn't afraid of getting hurt. But I am on good speaking terms with both of these men, and I was afraid that one or both of them would see my interference as a threat, and then I could be in for a long feud with a neighbor.

But it was fear just the same. A small risk on my part could have defused what may turn into a long, festering dispute.

And I didn't take it.