When a new neighbor moved in next door, I had high hopes that we could keep things civil—maybe even friendly. I was already juggling enough as a father of three energetic boys and a husband to Emily, who was battling a serious illness. We needed peace, not drama.
Unfortunately, we got the latter. The woman who moved in next door was in her late fifties, single, and, as it turned out, extremely irritable. From the moment she arrived, she had a talent for finding problems where none existed.
Our neighborhood was a quiet one, where the sound of children playing was as normal as the sunrise. The first complaint from my neighbor—whom we’ll appropriately call Karen—came within days. My sons, Tucker and Wyatt, were racing their bikes up and down the driveway while Jace ran behind, laughing wildly.
It was a regular summer evening—kids being kids. I was grilling burgers when I heard her voice slice through the air. “Do they have to be so loud?” she barked from her porch, arms crossed.
“Some of us value serenity!”
I turned, spatula in hand. “It’s just kids playing,” I said, forcing a smile. “They’ll be in soon.”
She scoffed.
“I hope so!”
I shrugged it off, thinking she’d just had a long day. But that was just the beginning. Over the following weeks, the grievances kept coming.
The boys would come inside dejected because the new neighbor said their shrieks of joy during water balloon fights were unacceptable. The soft thump-thump of a basketball in our driveway? “Maddening,” according to Karen.
Even the sound of their laughter while jumping on the trampoline was, in her words, “enough to drive a person insane!”
For months, I tried everything to be a good neighbor and keep the peace. I shortened my children’s outdoor playtime, swapped out noisy toys, and even taught them to “use their indoor voices” outside. But nothing satisfied Karen.
Then, one afternoon, things took a nasty turn. It was a Saturday, and I was helping Emily inside when I heard a commotion outside. The boys had been playing a game of tag near the fence separating us from Karen’s house when she came storming over.
“You’re terrorizing this neighborhood!” she shrieked. My sons later told me she picked up her garden hose and sprayed them. Jace, my youngest, started crying, and they all ran inside completely drenched, complaining about our neighbor.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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