Then came the sarcastic grin.
“Relax,” he said. “I promise I won’t do it again.”
His words might have sounded like an apology if they hadn’t been delivered with such obvious sarcasm.
There was no regret in his voice.
He wasn’t sorry.
He was enjoying the situation.
He seemed to believe that because I wasn’t yelling, I was somehow losing the argument.
For a moment, I considered all the things I could say.
I could have threatened to call the police.
I could have demanded that he pay for the damage.
I could have stood there and argued until neither of us could stand hearing the other’s voice.
But I knew where that would lead.
An argument would probably become a shouting match.
A shouting match would create resentment.
And even if I technically won the argument, my neighbor might simply become more difficult afterward.
So I took a breath.
Then I smiled.
“Have a nice day,” I said.
He looked almost surprised.
I turned around and walked back toward my house.
Behind me, I could practically feel his satisfaction.
He probably thought he had won.
He probably believed I had finally accepted that he could do whatever he wanted and that I wouldn’t fight back.
What he didn’t know was that I had already made a decision.
I wasn’t going to yell.
I wasn’t going to damage his vehicle.
I wasn’t going to threaten him.
And I certainly wasn’t going to do anything illegal.
But I was going to make sure he understood one very important thing:
**My property was not his to use whenever he felt like it.**
### The Idea
As I walked back into my house, I looked again at the SUV sitting in the center of my lawn.