The Gentle Stalker

…

I am proud of my friend. When I describe her to other people, I often use my hands and show about 3″ between my pointer finger and thumb. “She is that big,” and I laugh. I don’t mean it disrespectfully, quite the opposite. My friend is petite and about 12 inches shorter than me.

She never weighed over 100 pounds in her lifetime, and I feel like an Amazon beside her, something that she finds very entertaining. “Stop crouching down,” she giggles, and I try to overlook that she sits cross-legged in my sewing chair.

She is in her late 50s, and she still climbs trees. Both she and her husband are pole climbers. They worked for a cell phone company for many years, but were laid off at the beginning of the year, when government jobs were cut left and right.

When people fall in love, they all wish to find a partner who completes them, who understands and shares not just the same values, but also some of their interests. My friend and her husband are perfect for each other. Sometimes in the night, they go into the woods, which start right at the border of their open yard, and they climb up a tree and sit there for hours. “We watch the owls and listen to them; they are all around us. They know us know.” When she told me, I shook my head, a mix between disbelief and admiration. I imagined my husband’s face if I were to tell him to climb a tree with me. No, let’s not go there.

My friend is soft spoken, hardly raises her voice, and she is very articulate. My sarcasm amuses her endlessly, and she often wishes to ‘borrow’ it, while I admire her voice. “If I decide to publish my book on Audible, you need to read it,” I joke, but I actually mean it. She would be the perfect narrator.

While we are different in size and shape, and her shoes look like kids’ shoes beside mine, we share the same values and we think in the same direction, but she is better than me and she just proved it again, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

“You know, I went to the last township meeting,” she chuckled and rolled her eyes, and I laughed. I went years ago and found myself dozing off. Politics and the games they play start small in townships and neighborhoods like ours. It was boring and a waste of time and energy.

And then she told me how it all began. One of her neighbors, Michelle, a lady she likes, had decided to run for township trustee after they had filed a nuisance claim against her, for no other reason than that they thought her grass was too high. Michelle had been sick.

My friend went to the township meeting and asked for a copy of the list of all the ongoing nuisance claims. They gave it to her, and she went home.

“I did a little gentle stalking.” When she said it, I laughed out loud. What a nice phrase, one I will not forget. ‘Gentle stalking.’

“I found out that some of the people were older and some were sick, and that’s why they couldn’t take care of their lawn. Many of them can’t afford to hire someone to cut their yard once a week.” I nodded, just a decade ago we lived in a house and we couldn’t afford a law mower or a yard helper.

“The township sends out the claim and then hires someone who cuts the yards, and for that they charge $1,000, and if the people can’t pay, then it’s added to their property tax.” My friend was angry, and my eyes widened as well. The logic and the cruelty behind it is so typical. If people can’t afford to hire someone who mows their yards for $30 or $40, what makes them think they can afford a thousand dollars? And why overcharge to begin with? How about knocking on people’s doors instead?

My friend was outraged about all these nuisance claims and rightfully so.

Then she acted.

She and her neighbor, the woman who is running for trustee now, went to all the addresses of older neighbors and mowed, weed-eated, and cleaned up their yards. Of course, some were just lazy and rude. “I can have as much junk in my yard as I want,” a middle-aged man declared and pointed to the junk cars in his front yard.

You can’t help everybody, but the ones who needed it were helped. My friend and her neighbor cleaned up other people’s houses and yards for free for the last two weeks.

“I am exhausted,” she said, and her face showed satisfaction. She didn’t like the situation, and she acted. I told her she should run for trustee as well. We need more people like her who speak up and point out things that are downright wrong.

I am proud of her, I guess that’s what I wanted to say.

My little friend can move mountains.