By the time I climbed back into bed, I was almost smiling.
I didn’t know exactly how Monica would react. But I knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t leave that gnome alone.
Tomorrow, Monica was going to learn something about the quiet widow next door.
Nobody stopped me.
****
The next morning, I woke up with a clarity I hadn’t felt in years. I made my coffee, sat at the kitchen table, and let the plan take shape as naturally as breathing.
First things first: I walked across the lawn in broad daylight, marched right up to Monica’s flower bed, and picked up my garden gnome.
The one Monica had slapped a fresh coat of blue paint over, though I could still see the chipped nose underneath and the faint outline of the little red hat bleeding through where she’d been too lazy to prime him. The one that had been “decorating” her yard for six months.
Nobody stopped me. Monica’s Tesla was gone, probably off running errands with all that free electricity in the battery.
