Neighborhood Nuisance

The story I'm about to tell happened two weekends ago, so it's lost most of its humor on us by now, but it still has to be told.

Zach was in the backyard cutting down an apple tree that had been dying ever since we bought this house five years ago. We've had a huge stack of tree branches out by the road for a good six weeks waiting for the town to come pick up so Zach just wanted to burn some of the small limbs from the cut-down apple tree. He started the fire in our fire pit and then headed over to Stella's yard to cut down a tree she had been bugging him to take care of since she came back to town in April.

He was in the middle of cutting down her tree when she came out to chat. They chatted. Everything was friendly. She went back into her closed-up, air-conditioned house and Zach came back home to man the fire. Ten minutes later the police pulled into the driveway. "Hey. I imagine you're here about the fire?" Zach offered.

"Yeah....I am," the cop hesitated, "but it looks like you've got it under control. I came expecting this huge, out-of-control bonfire. One of your neighbors called to complain, I don't know which one..." He trailed off.

"Oh, I have an idea who that was." Zach said, and then the cop confirmed the last name.

Stella.

WTF?

She called and said that the smoke was coming in her windows and she couldn't breathe. Her closed-up windows.

Now we know she likes to make trouble among the neighbors. She often tells horror stories about them to us and we wonder what she says to them about us, but we've always chalked it up to her being 80+, living alone for over 15 years, and simply looking for something to pass the time. We can't figure out what motivated her behavior this time. There is usually something we can pin-point each time she acts up like this. "Oh, you didn't fix her screen door when she asked so now the across-the-street neighbors are her favorites."

There's nothing we've been able to think of in this case. Zach had just done her a favor. And they were out talking, why didn't she mention the smoke then? Because it didn't bother her, she just wanted to make trouble. But it still doesn't make sense, so the only thing I've been able to come up with is that he age is finally catching up to her. She hasn't really seemed right this year, and maybe dementia is setting in or something. She's been acting very weird, and then coming over with little gifts the next day. I think she feels guilty for treating the way she often does, and then comes around the next day to try to make up for it.

We just play dumb though. Zach hasn't told Stella he knows she's the rat. He's 'saving it' for the next time she asks a big favor and then gives him heck about it.

So the cop said he felt kind of silly asking Zach to put out the fire. He said it all looked normal and safe. Zach told him that the funny thing is that Stella just been outside chatting with Zach, that she could have mentioned it then. The cop laughed at that but seemed just as baffled as us. It's really just sad to see what's happening to Stella.