My neighbor let her dog use my lawn as a toilet every morning for six months and never cleaned up once — Kertati I stayed polite until she made one comment I couldn’t forget, and by the next morning I’d taught her a lesson without raising my voice once.

I finished at 7:32.

Then I went home.

Washed my hands.

Started coffee.

At 7:38, I heard her front door open.

I stood near the kitchen window.

Marguerite stepped outside wearing her usual morning clothes.

Silk robe.

Ceramic coffee mug.

The composed expression of someone beginning her day exactly as planned.

She took three steps.

Then stopped.

She looked down at the first stone.

Then the second.

Then the third.

I watched understanding move across her face.

She knew exactly what she was looking at.

And exactly who had put it there.

She stood in the cold holding her coffee.

She didn’t look toward my house.

That told me more than anything.

Because if she looked toward my house, she would have to decide whether to confront me.

And what exactly could she say?

I hadn’t shouted.

I hadn’t threatened her.

I hadn’t written an angry letter.

I had simply returned something she had repeatedly left on my property.

Only this time, it was sitting where she lived.

Eventually, she turned around and went inside.

By nine o’clock, every stone was spotless.

I noticed when I drove Oliver to school.

Marguerite had cleaned everything.

Thoroughly.

Without anyone asking her to.