My ruminations on the garbage bins reminded me of a vitriolic feud we inadvertently entered into with a neighbor years ago. We owned a house down the street from our current home, where our daughter lived, and she and her husband attempted to erect a deer fence. The next door neighbors raised strong objections, on the ground that there was an easement down the hill for walking down to the summer dam below. In a memorable confrontation, the male member of the pair who lived there stood out in his driveway and subjected my husband to a torrent of four letter words, The female member of the pair accosted me at the school house where I was picking up my grandson, and hysterically accused me of all manner of evil intentions.
We are a peaceful pair. We were even then an elderly pair. We were of course accustomed to cussing, as my husband had served for 25 years in the military and could easily have out-cussed him. The poor fellow only knew about four words, which he repeated over and over again. My husband remained calm. I couldn't resist spouting forth several words I had learned when we served overseas, such as Merde and swine-hund and whanging ( yikes, forgive me) and the ultimate Arab curse, son of a camel. The upshot of the whole matter was our decision to have the place surveyed, which was soon done.
Revenge is sweet. The result of the survey showed that we owned about ten or fifteen more feet than we thought we owned, and there was no easement whatsoever and had never been. We erected a handsome wood fence which screened our view of their house, and gave privacy from the neighbors. They were required to move a shed and propane tank which had been placed on our side of the line and had been there for about thirty years.
Like any feud, the negative feelings remain for a long time after. We are cordial when we meet, but there lingers the memory of that tongue-lashing and the memos and phone calls that went about the neighborhood during the disagreement. It wasn't exactly like the Hatfield-McCoy feud which went on for several decades and caused many deaths. Of course, when I think about it, it is with a joyful feeling of triumph. I am sure that whenever they look over and see that fence they have a mental reaction too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
what a great ending to the story... I bet they wish they'd never brought that easement issue up! Taught them to keep their mouths shut! That IS sweet. It may not seem nice to gloat over things like that, but when people choose to be nasty instead of politely talking things over, I think they deserve it! I eventually won my garbage can battle with the strange lady who lived next to me, too.
Hi. I think we could have gotten along with the feminine member of the pair, as she actually was rather sweet. When I passed the house one day and heard him berating her in the same way, I realized that she was very much under his domination. However, one needs only one such confrontation to be forever wary. Why she puts up with him I will never know, as he doesn't work and is probably a mental case. So for her I have a certain measure of sympathy. Why do so many women suffer abuse, often verbal as well as physical? Is it because of the nesting instinct? They have no children, which makes the puzzle even more baffling.
Hi again. I didn't mean to be anonymous. Clicked on the wrong spot. I still haven't mastered the art of the computer.
I think it is the nature of fearing the unknown... some people will stay in horrible circumstances rather than face a change. Sometimes the familiar seems ok even if it is painful, it's what you're used to. I don't think I could do it, but I guess that's why some do...they imagine they can't handle it on their own or something. It's very sad really. Good of you to try to see her side, I always (well, usually) try to do that myself.
Post a Comment