Then one of my daughters climbed out of the pool and noticed Marlene watching.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Is that lady mad again?”
I wrapped a towel around her.
“Don’t worry about her.”
“She always looks angry.”
I smiled.
“Some people carry around more frowns than other people.”
My daughter giggled.
“That doesn’t mean we have to carry them for her.”
She ran back toward her siblings.
But when I looked toward Marlene’s house again—
she was still there.
Watching.
SHE WALKED STRAIGHT INTO MY YARD
A few days later, I was making sandwiches in the kitchen when I heard shouting outside.
Not children.
An adult.
Angry.
I dropped the knife and rushed through the back door.
Marlene was standing beside the pool.
Inside my fenced backyard.
The gate was hanging open behind her.
She had entered my property without knocking.
And she was leaning toward my youngest child.
