My Neighbor Spray-Painted Graffiti on My House ‘To Make It Prettier’ – He Wouldn’t Pay for the Damage, so I Taught Him a Lesson
I’d heard him mention his mother before, but I’d never met her.
She hugged him, retrieved another bag from the car, and started toward the house.
Then she noticed my wall.
She stopped.
Her eyes traveled slowly across the graffiti.
Then they landed on the sign.
I kept pulling weeds.
Diane walked across the lawn.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Are you Patricia?”
“I am.”
She pointed toward the sign.
“Is this about Josh?”
“It is.”
She read it again.
Then she looked at the wall.
“He did that?”
“He did.”
“With your permission?”
“No.”
Her expression changed instantly.
“Did he think he had your permission?”
“No. I wasn’t home.”
Diane turned toward Josh.
He was still standing beside his porch.
“Josh.”
He didn’t move.
“Josh, come here.”
He walked across the yard like someone approaching a principal’s office.
Diane pointed at the wall.
“Did you do this?”
“Mom, she is making this into something much bigger than it is.”
“That was not my question.”
Josh shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Yes.”
“Did she ask you to?”
“No.”
“Did you ask her?”
He hesitated.
“No.”
Diane closed her eyes briefly.
“Are you a child? Why?”
Josh glanced at me.
