My Neighbor Charged Her Electric Car From My House Every Night Without My Permission – I Didn’t Call the Authorities, but I Did Something Better to Teach Her a Lesson

“I’m not sure I’m the problem here.”

I stepped out from behind the geraniums with my phone held steady in front of me.

And that was when the whole neighborhood came running.

Doors flew open up and down the street. Neighbors poured onto the sidewalk in slippers and robes, phones already out.

“YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE!”

Monica shrieked, pink paint dripping from her hair onto the concrete.

I lifted my phone a little higher from where I stood on the porch and kept my voice steady.

“Turn those off.”

“Monica, you’re stealing electricity at midnight and arguing with a garden gnome. I’m not sure I’m the problem here.”

Somebody behind me actually snorted.

Monica spun in the driveway, pointing a shaking pink finger at the gnome.

“AND YOU STOLE MY GNOME!”

I kept recording.

“Your gnome? The one you took from my yard six months ago?”

“The paint?”

Monica went silent. Her face changed.

For the first time all night, she seemed to realize how many phones were pointed at her.

“Turn those off,” she snapped at the neighbors. Then she looked back at me. “Eleanor, tell them. Tell them this was an accident.”

“Which part?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

Someone else answered for her.

“The paint?” I asked. “Or you plugging your car into my house after I specifically told you not to?”

Her mouth tightened.