On the fourth floor, the wall between 4B and 4C was as thin as a cracker; you could almost hear a neighbor change his mind. Iris, a woman of thirty, lived in 4B and played the trumpet in the evening. Tom, a man of thirty-five, lived in 4C and ran his vacuum cleaner at six in the morning.
The first note was taped to Iris's door: "Dear neighbor, please stop the trumpet at night. Thank you. 4C." Iris answered: "Dear 4C, I practice from nine to ten only. Also, the vacuum cleaner at six in the morning is not a good morning. 4B." Over three weeks the notes grew longer, colder and funnier, with capital letters, a drawing of a trumpet inside a pillow and a drawing of a vacuum cleaner on a leash. There were sixteen in all.
Note fifteen was different. Tom wrote: "Please. I have a baby of three months who only falls asleep with the vacuum cleaner on. I am so tired that yesterday I put cereal in the washing machine." Iris read it twice, standing in the corridor in her socks. She wrote: "I did not know. I practice because I have an audition on Friday. Come over at nine tonight and bring the baby."
At nine, Tom carried in little Mimi. Iris put a mute in the trumpet and played a slow, soft tune. Mimi was asleep in four minutes, and that night Tom slept eight hours for the first time in three months.
On Friday morning a last note was waiting on Iris's door: "Good luck today. 4C." The audition went well. That evening Iris taped her own note to Tom's door: "Mimi wants a concert tonight. Bring the vacuum cleaner for the duet. 4B."
