It’s been fun having other people live next door, but Penelope is the worst. It seemed like a small thing for her to tell me to take down my soft solar lights, but what happened next made her beg at my door.
Before this, I never really thought about karma. I used to think that luck was never on my side, but lately that has changed.
Hannah, I’m a 40-year-old single mom who works as a marketing assistant in a busy city office and raises my beautiful daughter Emma.
I’ll talk about Emma. Ten years old, she’s my pride and joy. She cares about people and sees the world in ways that most adults forget. She’s the kind of kid who would bake cookies for our elderly neighbor Mrs. Wilson or leave thank-you notes for the mail driver just because she “seemed a bit down today.”
She’s the best kid I could have asked for, and I’m so grateful to have her in my life, even with all the ups and downs.
It hasn’t always been easy, to be honest. Since I broke up with Emma’s dad nine years ago, I’ve been on my own.
It’s been hard at times to balance work and raising Emma, as well as worrying about money and the emotional hurdles of being a single parent.
Emma has kept me going, though. She makes me strong, and I make her strong. But that’s a story for another time.
Today I’d like to talk about something that happened not long ago and still amazes me. We’ve loved living in this cute little neighborhood for five years.
It’s not fancy, but it’s warm and comfortable. People in our neighborhood know each other, wave as they drive by, and talk about gardening plans on the weekends.
It’s a great summer here. Kids ride bikes down the street, there’s always a yard sale going on, and the air smells like cooked food. I and Emma both love it.
Emma and I sit in our yard every night with our solar lights on, which softly light up our little flower beds. We had a good time making those lights last spring. Emma chose them because she thought our yard needed some “magic sparkle.”
We’ve talked about her school day, her dreams of becoming a vet (which change every other week), and anything else on her mind in our garden ever since.
When Penelope moved in next door a few months ago, things changed. You could say Penelope is… well, she’s different.
Even on the weekends, she always wears a sharp suit and high heels like she’s running a big business. She’s 33 years old.
I’m not impressed by the fact that she works in finance and drives a brand-new car. Her yard is lovely, with roses and bushes that have been pulled back. Those flowers must have cost her a lot of money.
But how she acted? Penelope isn’t very nice.
She never smiles and doesn’t talk to anyone over the fence, even if you paid her. And don’t even bring up the time she was mad that kids were playing on her grass.
I didn’t think much of her at first. That was fine with me—I thought she just liked her own room.
Then she decided that my little sun lights were a bother.
That’s where the story really begins.
She started coming to my house every night after a week of living there to complain about the solar lights in my yard.
“They shine into my bedroom and are too bright.” She would tell him, “You need to take them down.”
I thought Penelope’s complaint would end after one time, but it didn’t. Other people in the neighborhood even tried to agree with her about my yard lights.
She would moan, “Those lights keep me up all night.”
It seemed silly to me. There wasn’t much light there! They had a soft glow that went away at midnight.
When she came back one night, I tried to explain.
“This is a solar light, Penelope.” They are small and not very bright. “Plus, they turn off around midnight,” I said.
She wouldn’t listen, though. “I don’t care.” They need to leave.
The worst part was how Emma felt about it. We put up those lights together, and she loved them. I could see Emma’s face fall every time Penelope came over to complain.
She didn’t understand why our neighbor was so mad, and I didn’t either.
I had no plans to turn off the lights. Why should I?
Then Penelope came over one day and looked mad.
“Hannah… She yelled, “These lights are a problem! If you don’t take them down, I’ll call the police!”
It made me feel bad and angry. I didn’t want a big fight, though, because I knew Emma would be upset.
I took a deep breath, and then I chose to give up. I hoped that this would make things better.
Emma came outside that night while I was digging the lights out of the ground.
“Mom, why are you taking them down?” Her green eyes went from one light to another as she asked.
I got down on my knees next to her and gave her a tight hug.
I told my wife, “Honey, Penelope doesn’t like the lights, so we’re taking them down for now.” “But I promise we’ll put up even better ones soon, okay?” “Maybe some that look like little stars.”
I could tell Emma was sad even though she said yes.
We thought that was the end of it that night when we went to bed, but things were about to change quickly.
It woke me up the next morning with a loud bang on the front door. Once I got downstairs, I couldn’t help but wonder who was making such a loud noise so early in the morning.
I was shocked to see Penelope when I looked through the peephole. But this wasn’t the Penelope I knew. She wasn’t neat and put together. It looked like she was in her clothes because her hair was all over the place and her face was tired.
I opened the door and tried not to look too shocked.
She yelled, “What did you do?! “before I could ask what was wrong. Now is the time to put those solar lights back up, because my yard is a mess!”
I blinked, totally lost. Was that a joke?
She told me yesterday that she would call the police if I didn’t turn off the lights, and now she wanted them back. What was going on?
“Penelope, what do you mean?” “Because you told me to, I took them down,” I replied.
She cried out, “That was a mistake!”
Then she told him that raccoons from the nearby woods got into her yard last night because the lights weren’t on. It was fun for them to tear up her pretty flowers and plants and chew on everything.
Penelope shook her head and said, “I… I couldn’t do anything.” “I was scared to go outside and scare them away.” I did nothing but watch as they ruined my lovely yard.
I paid attention and kept my face straight as she talked. I smiled slightly and told her, “I told you those lights were useful.”
There were tears in Penelope’s eyes, and she almost broke down. It was now that she begged.
“Please turn the lights back on.” Could you also help me clean up my yard?”
She acted like this was my fault, even though she was scared. She looked at me like I was going to fix her mess right away.
But I was done. “Sorry, Penelope, but that’s not my problem,” I told her. The lights didn’t bother you. You should get someone to fix up your yard.
“But…”
“I hope you figure it out soon, Penelope,” I told her with a smile. “Good day.”
After that, I shut the door and left her standing there.
She worked on her yard for hours and spent a lot of money over the next few weeks. Emma and I, on the other hand, put up our solar lights again and added a few more just to be safe.
I learned from this that fate really does make things fair. Penelope asked for those lights to be turned off, and she got them, but not without some trouble!