My neighbor to the west is bipolar. Today he's having one of his manic episodes, screaming and gesticulating, bellowing and walking around. His voice strains with the effort of making the loudest possible sound. It will be quiet for a minute or two (while he's listening to the voices in his head?), then he starts again.

His girlfriend says that he's not violent, but I hear so much anger and hostility and rage in his ravings, that I am frightened during these episodes. He speaks in several voices, often with a pseudo-German accent. He excuses himself afterward by saying that he is practicing for a part in an upcoming play, "The Nazi General". To my knowledge, there is no such play.

His mother was Jewish and he says she was a saint. Sometimes the words make me think he thinks he's in a prison camp.

He has never threatened me, but his father said that his son threatened to kill him if he was forced to take the medicine for his sondition. At that point his father gave up and went back to Brazil, saying he was afraid for his life.

The people to the west of him have small children. I wonder how they explain his bizarre behavior and foul language ("you fucking pile of shit") to them.