On the fourth floor, the wall between 4B and 4C was as thin as a cracker. Iris played the trumpet in the evening in 4B. Tom ran his vacuum cleaner at six in the morning in 4C.
The first note was on Iris's door: "Dear neighbor, please stop the trumpet at night. 4C." Iris answered: "I practice from nine to ten only. The vacuum cleaner at six in the morning is not a good morning. 4B." In three weeks they wrote sixteen notes, each colder.
Then Tom wrote: "Please. My baby is three months old and only sleeps with the vacuum cleaner on." Iris wrote: "I did not know. Come at nine and bring the baby." She put a mute in the trumpet and played a soft tune. Mimi slept in four minutes, and Tom slept eight hours.
