Chapter 6 - The Lawyer Letter
The letter arrived by certified mail.
It accused Grandma of harassment, public defamation, targeted intimidation, and creating a "hostile residential environment."
Grandma read the first page.
Then the second.
Then she looked at me.
"Can a street be hostile?"
"Apparently ours is now."
The lawyer demanded that she remove any decorations "reasonably perceived as directed at the Lawson residence."
That part was almost funny because none were.
Almost.
Grandma had added exactly one new decoration since the meeting: a hand-painted sign beside the porch that read HAPPY HALLOWEEN, NEIGHBORS.
No names.
No arrows.
No skeleton pointing next door.
Mia had suggested that.
Grandma said no.
"We're not twelve."
Still, I could tell the letter got to her.
She made coffee and forgot to put the grounds in the filter.
Then she sat at the kitchen table for a long time without drinking it.
"Maybe this got too big," she said.
I started to answer.
She held up a hand.
"No. Don't tell me what I want to hear."
So I didn't.
"You called everybody before you called the police."
She nodded.
"Yeah."
"And you knew the yard would turn into a statement."
"Yeah."
"And maybe part of you wanted them to feel cornered."
Grandma rubbed her forehead.
"Probably."
The admission surprised me.
Then she sighed.
"I'm still angry."
"You get to be."
"That's not the same as being right about everything."
That afternoon, she removed one decoration.
Kevin the skeleton.
Not because Brent asked.
Because Mia had positioned him so one bony finger pointed toward the Lawson house.
"Too petty," Grandma said.
Mia looked offended.
"It was funny."
"It was funny. Still petty."
We moved Kevin to the maple tree.
At sunset, a police cruiser pulled up.
Officer Daniels stepped onto Grandma's porch holding a small evidence bag.
Inside was a piece of orange electrical wire.
"We found this behind the Lawsons' fence," he said.
Grandma's porch lights had been cut with orange-handled snips.
The officer looked toward the house next door.
"Mrs. Reed, I think we need to talk about what they told us this morning."
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