Chapter 8 - When Payback Goes Wrong
The next morning, Grandma knocked on Brent's door.
I tried to stop her.
She went anyway.
Melissa answered.
There were dark circles under her eyes.
"What?"
Grandma held out a broom and a dustpan.
Melissa stared at them.
"I saw what somebody threw in your driveway."
"You think that's funny?"
"No."
"Because this started with you."
Grandma flinched.
Small. Real.
"Some of it did."
Melissa crossed her arms.
"People are sending messages. They found Brent's work page."
"I told them to stop."
"And you think that fixes it?"
Grandma looked down at the broom.
"No."
That answer caught Melissa off guard.
Grandma set the broom against the railing.
"I can't control strangers. But I can tell them not to use me as an excuse."
Melissa's mouth tightened.
"You enjoyed humiliating us at that meeting."
Grandma didn't deny it.
"A little."
I nearly choked.
Melissa blinked.
Grandma continued.
"That wasn't my best moment."
Then the front door opened wider.
Brent appeared behind Melissa.
"Get off our property."
Grandma stepped backward immediately.
"Okay."
No argument.
No last word.
That bothered him more than a fight would have.
By noon, Grandma posted another message in the neighborhood group.
She asked people not to contact the Lawsons, not to trespass, and not to vandalize anything in their name.
Then she added one line:
IF YOU WANT TO HELP, BRING ONE HALLOWEEN DECORATION TO MY HOUSE ON OCTOBER 1. WE'LL MAKE SOMETHING GOOD OUT OF THIS.
I thought maybe twenty people would show up.
Grandma thought ten.
By the next morning, over two hundred people had marked themselves interested.
And one of them was a local television reporter.
May you like
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