Chapter 3

The next day, I took a half-day off work.

I hired someone to install a heavy-duty smart parking lock in my space.

At the same time, I put a passcode lockbox over the EV charger.

Once that was done, I parked my own car in the spot, raised the smart lock, and enjoyed the sudden peace.

That evening, my front door was pounded on so hard it shook.

I looked through the peephole. It was Mildred.

She was furious.

I opened the door.

"Lynn, what is the meaning of this? Why did you put a lock on our parking spot?"

I thought I had misheard her.

"Your parking spot?"

"Yes! You don't even use that spot often! My son has been parking there for six months. It’s basically ours now! You need to remove that stupid lock right now. My son’s car is sitting outside in the rain!"

Her sheer audacity blew my mind.

"Mrs. Gable, the deed to that spot has my name on it. I installed a lock to protect my private property. Is there a problem? Also, you need to pay for the past six months of electricity. It's six hundred dollars."

I handed her the printed bill.

She slapped it out of my hand.

"What electricity bill! That charger was just gathering dust anyway. My son was doing you a favor by using it! Young people these days have absolutely no respect or community spirit!"

She walked away, cursing under her breath.

I ignored her, closed the door, and went to bed.

I thought this would be the end of it.

But I had underestimated her lack of decency.

The next morning, I went down to the garage to drive to work.

When I reached my spot, I froze.

The heavy steel smart parking lock had been brutally smashed and bent out of shape.

The locking mechanism was completely destroyed.

And parked in my spot, once again, was the white hybrid SUV.

The passcode lockbox on the charger had been pried open, and the charging nozzle was plugged into the car.

A wave of fury rushed straight to my head.

This wasn’t just petty behavior anymore; this was vandalism and harassment.

I immediately called the police.

When the officers arrived, they pulled up the garage surveillance footage.

The video was crystal clear.

At 2:00 AM, Mildred had showed up with a sledgehammer and spent ten minutes pounding on my lock.

Then, her son drove his car in, parked comfortably, and plugged in the charger.

Facing the police, Mildred started to wail and play the victim.

"Officers, you have to help us! This woman is bullying a poor, lonely widow and her son! So what if I broke a useless piece of metal?"

The police were fair.

They ruled it as criminal mischief and intentional damage to private property.

They ordered Mildred to pay for the damaged lock and lockbox immediately and told Brandon to move the car.

Under the threat of arrest, Brandon reluctantly drove his car away.

He Venmoed me eight hundred dollars for the damages.

After the police left, Mildred stood in the hallway screaming curses for half an hour.

I paid her no mind.

I bought an even more heavy-duty, pressure-resistant smart lock.

To be safe, I also installed a hidden, high-definition micro-camera on the pipe directly above my parking spot.

It streamed live directly to my phone.

Over the next few days, the lock remained intact.

But my phone started receiving motion alerts from the camera every single night.

When I tapped on the alerts, I saw Mildred appearing by my parking spot like a ghost in the dead of night.

She didn't smash the lock anymore.

Instead, she started dumping trash on my spot.

Sometimes it was rotting food scraps, sometimes it was used sanitary pads.

Once, she even brought her unleashed toy poodle to poop directly on my smart lock.

It was absolutely repulsive.

When I complained to the property management, they said it was a "neighbor dispute" and they could only "warn" her.

When I confronted her, she denied everything, claiming the person in the footage just looked like her.

Every morning, I had to suppress my disgust to clean up my parking spot.

I was done playing nice.

If you love parking and charging here so much, I’ll let you have your fill.

That weekend, I hired a professional electrician.

I didn't bother fixing the passcode box.

Instead, I had the electrician install a smart remote breaker switch inside the main electrical panel.

With a single tap on my phone app, I could cut off the power to the charger completely.

Then, I lowered the parking lock and drove my car out for a three-day road trip.

Before leaving, I left the parking spot wide open.

The charging nozzle was hung neatly on the dock.

Like a trap waiting to be sprung.

Sure enough.

As soon as I hit the highway, my phone buzzed with a camera alert.

The white hybrid SUV eagerly slid into my spot.

Brandon got out and smoothly plugged in the charger.

Mildred stood nearby, grinning ear to ear. She even spat on the pillar next to my spot.

"At least she finally learned some manners!"

Listening to the audio from the camera feed, a cold smile spread across my face.

I didn't turn off the power right away.

I waited.

I waited until 11:00 PM.