He Said She Said
Neighborhood gossip is always worth listening to. Neighbors always have the best stories. And it is even better when you can catch some drama happening and watch it unfold and then your neighbor fills you in on the rest of the details. This is exactly how it went down with “Wyatt.” He only witnessed some of the craziness, but his neighbor “David” was the one caught in the drama and he made sure to give Wyatt the full picture.
In general, there are a lot of people who have trouble with boundaries. And usually, this struggle is coupled with an ego the size of Texas. So now you have a disastrous combination of a person who thinks they are always right and they have no concept of other’s needs. It is impressive how completely oblivious some people can be to the world they believe revolves around them.
Back to the neighbors part of this whole thing. I think you probably see where this is going. But we have a combination of all of the above here. Neighborhoods are the perfect breeding ground for egos and those who just can’t fathom others having the same things as them.
The competitiveness between neighbors is unmatched. And the tiresome displays of dominance are never ceasing.
~
The Last Straw
“David” lived next to “Karen.” She is named according to her actions you’ll soon see. These two bickered about property lines all the time. They lived on a private road and there was always something to say about where the lines were.
Karen was known for being fairly obtuse when it came to how things really were versus her version of reality. However, nothing can become so bothersome either of them had to take action. They mainly handled it between themselves or Karen would just ignore whatever the right thing was. Classic.
Well, there was a new figure in the picture. We will call him “Kyle” and he was Karen’s boyfriend. They had just gotten engaged. You can imagine this meant he was over at her house quite frequently. Kyle was there more than every other day. And he would stay the night.
Now, this wouldn’t be such an issue. Why would David have anything to say about what happens in Karen’s house? Well, here’s the kicker. Every time Kyle came over, he “would park his car in front of David’s lawn.” Karen had “a large family” with a lot of cars. Her driveway and the spaces in front of her lawn were taken, so Kyle routinely parked in front of David’s house.
David hadn’t really thought about it too much. It wasn’t the best situation, but it hadn’t become an issue until David brought his new camper home. This thing was “practically a bus.” And there was no room to park the camper on his property since Kyle was taking the only available space.
David was conflicted because he and his wife really didn’t want to park it in a paid lot. And they wouldn’t park it in a public lot. This thing was worth some serious money and they didn’t want to take any chances.
The first thought would be to wait until the day Kyle left and take the parking spot back while he was gone for a day or so. Well, this wouldn’t be the case anymore.
~
“I’m Calling The Cops”
Rumor had it Kyle and Karen were now officially married. Kyle had moved in now and his car was pretty much permanently parked in front of David’s house. And Karen had told Kyle the space on the road was a part of her property, so he continued to park there. Karen was either completely clueless or deranged, maybe both? However, they had had one previous incident where she tried to put benches on his property and again with some trees. You would think she would understand by now.
It wasn’t long before David had his fill of ridiculousness. They had been parking the camper down at a public lot which was not secure by any means.
So David “began plotting his revenge.” He had it all figured out. David was going to park his camper “in front of Kyle’s car so he would have to pull out backward.” However, there was another car behind Kyle’s. It was one of Karen’s sibling’s cars. Now Kyle was stuck. In more ways than one. He was physically stuck between the car and the camper, but he was also stuck between blaming David or blaming himself, or even blaming Karen.
When Kyle saw what had happened he immediately freaked out. He ran up to David’s door screaming the usual antics, “I’m calling the cops!”
David ignored Kyle’s incessant shouting. And then a miracle happened, Kyle walked away. Well, then he walked straight to his car.
~
All David’s Fault
When David hadn’t answered, Kyle was beside himself. He stomped all the way to his car and “he tried to inch his way out.” Kyle was so angry he could barely get himself together enough to drive. And so the inevitable happened. He slammed into the car behind him. Of course, this car was one of Karen’s family members. In frustration and anger, Kyle had slammed on the gas pedal in reverse and left a decent dent in the car. They wouldn’t find out how bad the damage was until later. It turned out they had damaged the gearbox or radiator, which is what Wyatt overheard.
Kyle was frantic. He jumped out of his car and raced to Karen’s house. Kyle began apologizing profusely and said it was all David’s fault because of the camper.
Karen and her family were now beet red with anger towards David.
He had been watching the heated exchange happen from his window and he was “laughing hysterically.” It was better than reality tv.
In a wild turn of events, Karen actually “managed to think logically for once and blamed it on Kyle.” They began discussing insurance and trying to figure out a way everything would be okay.
But then, Kyle started going off again. This time he “began going off on Karen about how insurance would charge him for the damage.” Does he not know how insurance works? He was the one to damage the vehicle, so he should have to pay. These were the type of people do couldn’t even believe something was their fault or they were in the wrong.
David listened and watched from his living room window as things began to spiral quickly. They continued to argue about the insurance until they decided to drag David into the chaos.
~
Justice
It was Karen, Kyle, and a few other members of the Karen clan. When David opened the door they all started yelling over each other. Except for Karen, she stayed quiet. They were accusing him of causing damage to their sibling’s car.
David was very calm and stated matter of factly Kyle’s car had been parked on his property. He told them he had a camper he needed to park on his property, so logically he did exactly what he needed to do. It was not his fault Kyle decided to park on his property.
They all began to throw fits again, so David went to find the property line drawing to present to them. He had a small smirk on his face when they saw the truth.
However, Karen finally spoke up. She accused David of falsifying the property lines. She claimed one line should be further to the left. This would give her more property and David less since she’d be stealing his. Coincidentally, if the lines were moved they would just barely cover the spot where Kyle parked as well. This was a very poorly executed plot.
It was obvious Kyle was on David’s property, his car was parked in front of Davids’s front windows. Anyone could clearly see it was David’s property and he was not at fault.
And it was Kyle who lost his patience and rammed into the other car behind him.
As they continued fighting, Wyatt, David’s neighbor stepped out to see what was going on.
Then Karen did what Karens do best, she called the police. Not only did she call them, but she also used 911 instead of the non-emergency number. She claimed David was “disturbing the entire neighborhood.”
Well, the police officers came to her rescue, only to find there was no physical altercation, no one was in danger, and there was no disruption to the neighborhood. Safe to say they were bewildered.
The officers reviewed all of the details and of course sided with David. The property lines alone were a clear indication of who was in the wrong. This is where things got real for Karen. She was “fined over 700 bucks for misusing 911.” And the icing on the cake was Kyle had to pay over 900 bucks because he had actually caused some major damage to the car he backed into angrily. If this isn’t a lesson to control your anger, I don’t know what is!
And then the cherry on top, Karen and Kyle divorced not long after the incident. Kyle said it was because “Karen lied to him and said he was on her property” when he parked in the spot.”
Karen’s only rebuttal was “ it was her house so she could lie if she wanted and other things of the sort.”
~
A Word From The Author
This was a classic example of entitlement, arrogance, and stupidity. Karen and Kyle wasted their time. And David had to be smart enough to concoct a plan to stop them but also not backfire on him. He was very clever! I think there are a couple of things to note though. Firstly, if it was his private property, couldn’t he have had Kyle’s car towed? Maybe David was just too nice.
Secondly, lots of people agree with me when I say misuse of 911 is not discouraged enough. After reading the story many folks had their opinions on it as well. And one person made a very good point to say “Even if she had been right, she still would have been misusing 911 because there is a non-emergency number. She obviously wasn’t right though.”
Hopefully, the fine taught her a lesson. Or maybe her divorce did?
Just because it is your house you still shouldn’t lie to someone. How does someone believe they are able to lie just because they own a house.
Karen knew Kyle shouldn’t park there, but she probably thought Wyatt wouldn’t do anything about it. She called his bluff. Except there was no bluff, he followed through to ensure he could park his camper safely.
A word from the wise: don’t park on someone else’s property, don’t call 911 unless it truly is an emergency, and respect your neighbors. You never know what they have up their sleeve.
~