“No,” I replied. “I haven’t touched the thermostat since April.”
“It might be the refrigerator. Old refrigerators use a lot of energy.”Refrigerators and freezers
“The fridge is younger than you, darling.” ”
She laughed.
I didn’t do it.
After hanging up, I stood at the kitchen window , looking over the low fence towards my neighbor Monica’s house.
Monica was in her thirties, had three children, a husband who traveled frequently, and a gleaming white Tesla that was almost always parked crookedly in her driveway.
I had already learned that Monica had a complicated concept of the boundary between her business and that of others.Culinary specialties
I simply hadn’t realized how widespread this attitude was.
Six months earlier, my garden gnome had disappeared.
It was a ridiculous little decoration that my husband had bought at a flea market the summer before he died.
He handed it to me with a smile.
“For the garden, El. Every garden needs a little bit of whimsy.”
Two days after her disappearance, I saw her near Monica’s front steps.
She had painted it blue.
I could still recognize the chipped nose.
I didn’t say anything.
Then my lawnmower disappeared from the garage.
He reappeared a week later with an empty tank, a dull blade, and no explanation.
Once again, I said nothing.Compare Prices
Three children, I told myself.Observing the Stars
She is busy.
Show her understanding.
Monica did the same thing to other people.
Frank, who lived across the street, had complained one day that she had “borrowed” his ladder and had forgotten to return it.
At the time, I laughed.
It was Monica.
