THE GREEDY NEIGHBOR COPYRIGHT 2013 RZEVANS
Ernest and Maxine Black wanted to move to a quiet place on the outskirts of the city, away from any industrial pollution. Maxine wasn't in good health; she was suffering from long term emphysema and asthma. She might have developed the asthma even if she had never smoked, but thirty years of smoking certainly compounded her problems. Ernest was sixty-two and wasn't ready for retirement, but he could see from Maxine's deteriorating condition that she didn't have many years left, and he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. A five acre ranchette became available and was in an area of clean country air. When Maxine asked the realtor why the owner's wanted to sell, the agent said she didn't know. Ernest had a sizable bank account which was due to years of frugal living, and he and Maxine decided to pay cash. The couple moved in and started making some minor improvements which they felt was an investment of themselves; it was their wish to establish a bond with the place. Maxine had Ernest to build a manger at the edge of the woods at the back of the place, and she began to place a little corn there each day. It wasn't long until she began to see wildlife appear in the late evening. Frequent visitors were two small does and a crusty old raccoon. In the evening she sat in a lawn chair with her binoculars and enjoyed the shadowy figures.
It was in December that things began to go awry. One evening, just before sunset, a lourd shot rang out. Maxine arose from her chair in the yard and listened for anymore disturbvance. There was a rustling in the undergrowth, and one of her beautiful does limped out and fell at the edge of the timber. Directly, there was a crashing of the underbrush and a neighbor appeared and stopped in front of the doe. He reachd down and cut it's throat; then he grabbed the hind legs and drug the carcass off toward his house. Maxine was devastated and ran into the house crying. It was deer season, they were not in the city limits, and the only thing she and Ernest figured they could do was to fence their property.
Ernest hadn't had the place surveyed because the map the title company issued showed the house was well inside the boundaries of the five acres, thus there wasn't any danger that it could have been close to a property line. To establish a fence, however, he would have to have it surveyed and have the surveyor mark the property lines all the way from corner to corner, on all four sides. When the surveyor came out, he said ,"Mr. Black, I surveyed this property a little over two years ago, but I'll have to do it again to mark it for fence lines."
When the surveyor finished the job, Ernest walked the place over with him. On the east border, the property stakes were placed on an area which had been bush hogged by the neighbor. The surveyor told him, "Mr. Black, I think the previous owner had a dispute with your neighbor about this property line. He may give you some trouble; I am a good surveyor, I am bonded, and I will testify in court if necessary."
Ernest decided he would fence that line first, to see if any trouble developed. He placed his corner posts and then started pounding in the T posts along the line. He hadn't finishe putting all the T posts down before the neighbor came tearing over on his four wheeler to ask what he thought he was doing. "I am fencing my property," Ernest said.
"You ain't putting any of them posts on my property," said the neighbor. Ernest told him that he just had the line surveyed by a bonded surveyor. "I don't agree," said the neighbor, "and if you put up any posts I'm agonna take them down."
Ernest went ahead and put down the entire line of posts, and sure enough the next morning all the metal T posts were in a pile. He called the sheriff's office and the dispatcher said they knew the neighbor and felt he was unpredictable. They suggested that Ernest not confront the man, but waid until they could assign someone to the case. Ernest and Maxine discussed the situation and decided that the small amount of land in question would not warrant the expense of hiring an attorney and going through court action. He knew such things could take a long time to come to a conclusion.
A sheriff's deputy was never sent out, and Ernest and Maxine decided to drop the fence construction. Maxine worked with her flowers and landscaping, as her health would allow and had a nice little waterfall and pond in one corner of her backyard. In the center she had a cherub with the water falling over one shoulder. One afternoon, Maxine was looking out the back kitchen window to see if there was any bluebird activity in the box when the cherub exploded, followed by a distant bang. Ernest said it had to have have been a high powered rifle. They called the sheriff's office again,and this time they did send out a deputy. The deputy took the report and interviewed all the neighbors. All, including "the menace," said they didn't know anything about it and didn't hear any shot.
One Thursday when Ernest and Maxine returned from one of her doctor appointments, they found that a load of large rocks had been dumped on their driveway. It was a dry spell, so Ernest could drive around the pile and park under the carport, but it took him hours to shift the big rocks to the side to clear the driveway. There was no rhyme or reason for this mischief, but he knew who was at the core of the rotten trick.
In early June, Ernest thought he heard some noise one night and got out of bed to investigate. He opened the door to the carport and shined the flashlight around but couldn't see anything. The next morning a dead skunk was found under the old Chrysler. He figured it was a good thing he had locked the car or it probably would have been tossed inside. In all of these events there was no evidence that could be used to point a finger; they were all mean tricks of a juvenile nature.
Maxine asked her doctor if he thought it would be ok for her get a dog, and he replied that she could, with the underestanding that if it caused her to get worse, she would have to give it away. She settled on a miniature poodle, and in spite of an increased cough, she refused to get rid of the dog. Their driveway was about seventy yards long, and the property faced on a gravel lane. The uncooperative neighbor often drove the gravel lane at a high speed, and Ernest had commented that loose gravel was unstable, and it was a wonder that the neighbor hadn't already wrecked his pickup. Maxine let the poodle, who she had named Toodles, out one day to relieve herself, and Toodles refuse to come back into the house. By the time Maxine had called Ernest from the backyard, Toodles had almost made it to the mailbox. As Ernest came out the front door, Toodles entered upon the lane, and "Bridbrain," as Ernest had started calling the neighbor, came tearing down the lane in his pickup. When Birdbrain saw Toodles, he never slowed down, and after the dust settled Toodles lay in the roadway whimpering loudly. Ernest and Maxine loaded the dog into their car and hurried to the vet's. Luckily, there was only a broken hind leg; Toodles had to wear a cast for seven weeks, but did well. "Ernest, I am not going to live like this anymore," said Maxine, "we're moving."
"I agree," said Ernest, "if you let me handle all the details of the sale."
Cleo, their realtor, found them another place, this time a little closer to the medical community. Ernest discussed the sale of their home with Cleo and told her that there were some unusual conditions he wanted on the sale. He would sell it to anyone that wanted to buy it at an appreciated price, but he wanted them to be aware that there was a dispute over the bonded survey that he had done the prior year. Also he would give a large discount to the party he felt was right for the place.
Several families came out and looked at the property, considered the dispute, and passed on the sale. None of these, Ernest felt, were right for the place anyway. Finally, an extended family of fourteen came in from Tennessee; the dad had acquired a mechanic job in one of the factories. One of the kids told Cleo that her daddy had been told by the law that if he left the county and gave up the moonshine business, they wouldn't press for prison time. Cleo told the dad and grandpa that there was a small dispute over ten feet of the east boundry. The oldest kid, Joshua, was there and hollered, "Hot dawg, we got us a land feud. Buy this place pa; this'll be some fun."
Dad looked at grandpa, and grandpa said, "It might keep the kids out of any serious trouble, boredom sure brings on sinful acts of the devil."
Dad called all the other kids to a conference under the lone pine in the front yard. He said, "If we buy this place, we gonna have to do some work. We gotta build a cabin for all you boys to sleep in, and you'all gonna have to go to school, thet's the law in this state, just like Tennessee. Sides, we want you all to be as smart as the other kids. Now, there is gonna be a little feud, so things gotta be done right. Now this is modern times, and I want you three oldest boys to tell us all again what 's the rules. You first Joshua."
"Can't do no harm to another's body," said Joshua.
Lemuel said, "Can't nogbody ever see anything you do."
Leroy sid, "Anythang done to someone's propitty got to be done on our side of the propitty line."
"Ok," said the dad, "now me and grandpa will talk to Miss Cleo about how to pay for this place."
Cleo told the Lawsons that the payment arrangement they wanted to present to Ernest and Maxine was unusual, but she would see what the owners had to say. Ernest consideed the proposal and said the monthly payment that the Lawsons had in mind would barely take care of the interest but he would go along with that arrangement for two years. By then the Lawsons should be in better financial shape, and the loan at that time would assume a normal status. The Lawsons agreed and the papers were drawn up and signed. Ernset showed the Lawson dad and grandaad the disputed property line and the survey, and he gave the Lawsons all the fence materials he had purchased. Birdbrain had left the corner posts alone as they and their supports were securely tamped down.
School had not started, so on a Friday, Grandpa and the kids placed all the T posts, ran the barbed wire, and that side of the five acres was fenced. Dad and Grandpa Lawson told the kids that they expected the feud would start that night. They parked their old farm truck down close to the fence to serve as a decoy. Sure enough, that night the truck drew Birdbrain like a magnet would draw a metal washer. Grandpa Lawson said, "The man's actions will determine how he is judged and what his punishment will be."
All the male figures hid behind the truck while Joshua stood waatch. About two AM a dark shadow appeared from the direction of Birdbrain's house. His four wheeler was in first gear and he slowly put-putted toward the fence. Joshua lay prone in the grass and watched. Birdbrain began to cut the wire and work the posts loose. They waited until Birdbrain was bent over tugging at one of the post and three of the boys slipped up and place a large burlap bag over him and wound some rope around the culprit several times. In the meantime, Joshua tied a rope onto the front of the four wheeler and pulled it well through the area where Birdbrain had remove the wire and post. Then he took the gasoline that Birdbrain had planned on using on the truck and poured it all over the four wheeler. They all loaded up in the truck, exept for Joshua, and drove home, leaving Bird brain thrashing around on the grass. Joshua had created a little trail of gasolien far enough away from the four wheeler that he was in no danger when the vehicle ignited. The Lawsons all stopped when the woof and roar occured and watched the vehicle burn. Joshua lay in the grass long enough to make sure Birdbrain worked his way out of the burlap.
When Ernest found out that the Lawsons welcomed the dispute, he told the dad and the grandpa about the tricks Birdbrain had pulled. The two Lawsons nodded their heads, and when Ernest mentioned the high power rifle incident, the grandpa said, "We got one of those." Grandpa expected Birdbrain to try the dump truck trick again with the large rocks, so the little kids took turns shinning up the pine in the front yard and using grandpa's spyglass. Clayburn, the ten year old, came down the tree all excited, "He's a loading big rocks up," Clayburn said.
Lemuel took the spyglass and climbed up for a look, "He will finish the load tomorrow," said Lemuel.
Grandpa sat down, and when the kids saw him get that look, they knew to be quiet. When Grandpa started grinning, the kids knew it was ok to talk, and they all began at one time. Grandpa held his hands up and said, "Here is our plan." That night the boys took shovels and created a ditch in the driveway that was just wide enough for a big tire to drop into and deep enough that the dump truck would sink to the axles. Then they covered it over with pine branches and a sprinkling of straw and dirt. That night, again about two AM, a low moan signaled a slow moving vehicle coming their way. The vehicle stopped and started backing down their drive. There was a sudden clank, the sound of changing gears, and the roar of an engine as Birdbrain tried to rock his way out of the ditch. He finally got out of the truck, and that was the signal for five guns to start firing in the air. The culprit took off running down the road, and all the kids started laughing. Dad Lawson folded back the hood of the dump truck, loosenesd the fuel line, and started the engine back up. It was about five minutes before the loose fuel caught fire, at which time Grandpa called the fire station. He told the fire chief the next morning that they had no idea who the dump truck belonged to or what it was doing in the driveway, but it looked like someone had abandoned it and left the motor running. The sheriff sent out a tow trujck which hauled off the burnt remains.
Dad and Grandpa Lawson told the kids that they all had to lay low for awhile, that old Birdbrain was probably really mad right now, and they didn't want the kids on that side of property at all. After about three weeks, the older boys figured it was time to create a little havoc themselves, and they conferred on potential sources of irritation. Birdbrain was still tearing down the lane in his pickup, and that gave Leroy the idea of creating some potholes. He asked Dad and Grandpa about that, and Dad Lawson asked the kids to not pester the neighbor anymore. Maybe Birdbrain had learned his lesson; the fence was up and no more trouble had come their way.
Birdbrain stewed over the humiliation for another six months and kept trying to figure out a plan to get rid of the newcomers. His wife, however, had never approved of his actions or schemes, and she gathered up the courage to tell him that if he didn't leave folks alone she was through with him One more wild scheme, she said, and she was going back to Houston and live with her sister. Birdbrain gave her a half hearted assurance and figured what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
Clayburn, the ten year old who had spotted Birdbrain loading up the rocks, really enjoyed the adventure of climbing the pine and spying on the country side using Grandpa's glass. He took advantage of every opportunity to assume his favorite position aloft and one Saturday morning was intrigued to see Birdbrain dragging his dog out to post in his backyard and tying him there. Directly Birdbrain came out of his house with a rifle and from a distance shot the dog. Clayburn saw the dog struggling to get loose from the tie rope and heard the dog's howls. In about forty minutes a sheriff's patrol car arrived at Birdbrains's and Clayburn saw the ornery man pointing toward the Lawson's house. In a few minutes the patrol car drove towards the Lawson's, and Clayburn hurried down the tree to report to his dad what had transpired. When the deputy arrived, they all met him in front of the house, and the deputy related what the neighbor had accused the family of. "Yes," said Mr. Lawson, "we have a 22, but you had better listen to what my son Clayburn has to say."
The deputy drove back over to Birdbrains's and walked the backyard to the post and examined the ground. Sure enough, there was not only a puddle of blood there, but there was a bullet hole in the post with hair imbedded. He wrote Birdbrain up for filing a false report and for cruelty to an animal. Clara, Birdbrain's wife, was true to her word; she threw two suitcases into her little Escort and left the same day. The Lawson later heard that Birdbrains's company demoted him and transferred him to another city.
Clara was not the only woman that was dissatisfied. Mrs. Lawson wanted to leave too, but she had different reasons. She was homesick and wanted her husband to take a job in her father's store back in Tennessee. When the factory slowdown caused some layoffs, Mr. Lawson contacted Ernest and told him they were returning to Tennessee. At that time, the stare was putting a major highway through the area where Ernest and Maxine had relocated, and the traffic was already increasing dramatically, so the couple decided to return to the five acre ranchette. They rediscovered how peaceful it was when they first moved there, and the deer and their fawns had no trouble making their way through or over the barbed wire fence.
Ernest and Maxine Black wanted to move to a quiet place on the outskirts of the city, away from any industrial pollution. Maxine wasn't in good health; she was suffering from long term emphysema and asthma. She might have developed the asthma even if she had never smoked, but thirty years of smoking certainly compounded her problems. Ernest was sixty-two and wasn't ready for retirement, but he could see from Maxine's deteriorating condition that she didn't have many years left, and he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. A five acre ranchette became available and was in an area of clean country air. When Maxine asked the realtor why the owner's wanted to sell, the agent said she didn't know. Ernest had a sizable bank account which was due to years of frugal living, and he and Maxine decided to pay cash. The couple moved in and started making some minor improvements which they felt was an investment of themselves; it was their wish to establish a bond with the place. Maxine had Ernest to build a manger at the edge of the woods at the back of the place, and she began to place a little corn there each day. It wasn't long until she began to see wildlife appear in the late evening. Frequent visitors were two small does and a crusty old raccoon. In the evening she sat in a lawn chair with her binoculars and enjoyed the shadowy figures.
It was in December that things began to go awry. One evening, just before sunset, a lourd shot rang out. Maxine arose from her chair in the yard and listened for anymore disturbvance. There was a rustling in the undergrowth, and one of her beautiful does limped out and fell at the edge of the timber. Directly, there was a crashing of the underbrush and a neighbor appeared and stopped in front of the doe. He reachd down and cut it's throat; then he grabbed the hind legs and drug the carcass off toward his house. Maxine was devastated and ran into the house crying. It was deer season, they were not in the city limits, and the only thing she and Ernest figured they could do was to fence their property.
Ernest hadn't had the place surveyed because the map the title company issued showed the house was well inside the boundaries of the five acres, thus there wasn't any danger that it could have been close to a property line. To establish a fence, however, he would have to have it surveyed and have the surveyor mark the property lines all the way from corner to corner, on all four sides. When the surveyor came out, he said ,"Mr. Black, I surveyed this property a little over two years ago, but I'll have to do it again to mark it for fence lines."
When the surveyor finished the job, Ernest walked the place over with him. On the east border, the property stakes were placed on an area which had been bush hogged by the neighbor. The surveyor told him, "Mr. Black, I think the previous owner had a dispute with your neighbor about this property line. He may give you some trouble; I am a good surveyor, I am bonded, and I will testify in court if necessary."
Ernest decided he would fence that line first, to see if any trouble developed. He placed his corner posts and then started pounding in the T posts along the line. He hadn't finishe putting all the T posts down before the neighbor came tearing over on his four wheeler to ask what he thought he was doing. "I am fencing my property," Ernest said.
"You ain't putting any of them posts on my property," said the neighbor. Ernest told him that he just had the line surveyed by a bonded surveyor. "I don't agree," said the neighbor, "and if you put up any posts I'm agonna take them down."
Ernest went ahead and put down the entire line of posts, and sure enough the next morning all the metal T posts were in a pile. He called the sheriff's office and the dispatcher said they knew the neighbor and felt he was unpredictable. They suggested that Ernest not confront the man, but waid until they could assign someone to the case. Ernest and Maxine discussed the situation and decided that the small amount of land in question would not warrant the expense of hiring an attorney and going through court action. He knew such things could take a long time to come to a conclusion.
A sheriff's deputy was never sent out, and Ernest and Maxine decided to drop the fence construction. Maxine worked with her flowers and landscaping, as her health would allow and had a nice little waterfall and pond in one corner of her backyard. In the center she had a cherub with the water falling over one shoulder. One afternoon, Maxine was looking out the back kitchen window to see if there was any bluebird activity in the box when the cherub exploded, followed by a distant bang. Ernest said it had to have have been a high powered rifle. They called the sheriff's office again,and this time they did send out a deputy. The deputy took the report and interviewed all the neighbors. All, including "the menace," said they didn't know anything about it and didn't hear any shot.
One Thursday when Ernest and Maxine returned from one of her doctor appointments, they found that a load of large rocks had been dumped on their driveway. It was a dry spell, so Ernest could drive around the pile and park under the carport, but it took him hours to shift the big rocks to the side to clear the driveway. There was no rhyme or reason for this mischief, but he knew who was at the core of the rotten trick.
In early June, Ernest thought he heard some noise one night and got out of bed to investigate. He opened the door to the carport and shined the flashlight around but couldn't see anything. The next morning a dead skunk was found under the old Chrysler. He figured it was a good thing he had locked the car or it probably would have been tossed inside. In all of these events there was no evidence that could be used to point a finger; they were all mean tricks of a juvenile nature.
Maxine asked her doctor if he thought it would be ok for her get a dog, and he replied that she could, with the underestanding that if it caused her to get worse, she would have to give it away. She settled on a miniature poodle, and in spite of an increased cough, she refused to get rid of the dog. Their driveway was about seventy yards long, and the property faced on a gravel lane. The uncooperative neighbor often drove the gravel lane at a high speed, and Ernest had commented that loose gravel was unstable, and it was a wonder that the neighbor hadn't already wrecked his pickup. Maxine let the poodle, who she had named Toodles, out one day to relieve herself, and Toodles refuse to come back into the house. By the time Maxine had called Ernest from the backyard, Toodles had almost made it to the mailbox. As Ernest came out the front door, Toodles entered upon the lane, and "Bridbrain," as Ernest had started calling the neighbor, came tearing down the lane in his pickup. When Birdbrain saw Toodles, he never slowed down, and after the dust settled Toodles lay in the roadway whimpering loudly. Ernest and Maxine loaded the dog into their car and hurried to the vet's. Luckily, there was only a broken hind leg; Toodles had to wear a cast for seven weeks, but did well. "Ernest, I am not going to live like this anymore," said Maxine, "we're moving."
"I agree," said Ernest, "if you let me handle all the details of the sale."
Cleo, their realtor, found them another place, this time a little closer to the medical community. Ernest discussed the sale of their home with Cleo and told her that there were some unusual conditions he wanted on the sale. He would sell it to anyone that wanted to buy it at an appreciated price, but he wanted them to be aware that there was a dispute over the bonded survey that he had done the prior year. Also he would give a large discount to the party he felt was right for the place.
Several families came out and looked at the property, considered the dispute, and passed on the sale. None of these, Ernest felt, were right for the place anyway. Finally, an extended family of fourteen came in from Tennessee; the dad had acquired a mechanic job in one of the factories. One of the kids told Cleo that her daddy had been told by the law that if he left the county and gave up the moonshine business, they wouldn't press for prison time. Cleo told the dad and grandpa that there was a small dispute over ten feet of the east boundry. The oldest kid, Joshua, was there and hollered, "Hot dawg, we got us a land feud. Buy this place pa; this'll be some fun."
Dad looked at grandpa, and grandpa said, "It might keep the kids out of any serious trouble, boredom sure brings on sinful acts of the devil."
Dad called all the other kids to a conference under the lone pine in the front yard. He said, "If we buy this place, we gonna have to do some work. We gotta build a cabin for all you boys to sleep in, and you'all gonna have to go to school, thet's the law in this state, just like Tennessee. Sides, we want you all to be as smart as the other kids. Now, there is gonna be a little feud, so things gotta be done right. Now this is modern times, and I want you three oldest boys to tell us all again what 's the rules. You first Joshua."
"Can't do no harm to another's body," said Joshua.
Lemuel said, "Can't nogbody ever see anything you do."
Leroy sid, "Anythang done to someone's propitty got to be done on our side of the propitty line."
"Ok," said the dad, "now me and grandpa will talk to Miss Cleo about how to pay for this place."
Cleo told the Lawsons that the payment arrangement they wanted to present to Ernest and Maxine was unusual, but she would see what the owners had to say. Ernest consideed the proposal and said the monthly payment that the Lawsons had in mind would barely take care of the interest but he would go along with that arrangement for two years. By then the Lawsons should be in better financial shape, and the loan at that time would assume a normal status. The Lawsons agreed and the papers were drawn up and signed. Ernset showed the Lawson dad and grandaad the disputed property line and the survey, and he gave the Lawsons all the fence materials he had purchased. Birdbrain had left the corner posts alone as they and their supports were securely tamped down.
School had not started, so on a Friday, Grandpa and the kids placed all the T posts, ran the barbed wire, and that side of the five acres was fenced. Dad and Grandpa Lawson told the kids that they expected the feud would start that night. They parked their old farm truck down close to the fence to serve as a decoy. Sure enough, that night the truck drew Birdbrain like a magnet would draw a metal washer. Grandpa Lawson said, "The man's actions will determine how he is judged and what his punishment will be."
All the male figures hid behind the truck while Joshua stood waatch. About two AM a dark shadow appeared from the direction of Birdbrain's house. His four wheeler was in first gear and he slowly put-putted toward the fence. Joshua lay prone in the grass and watched. Birdbrain began to cut the wire and work the posts loose. They waited until Birdbrain was bent over tugging at one of the post and three of the boys slipped up and place a large burlap bag over him and wound some rope around the culprit several times. In the meantime, Joshua tied a rope onto the front of the four wheeler and pulled it well through the area where Birdbrain had remove the wire and post. Then he took the gasoline that Birdbrain had planned on using on the truck and poured it all over the four wheeler. They all loaded up in the truck, exept for Joshua, and drove home, leaving Bird brain thrashing around on the grass. Joshua had created a little trail of gasolien far enough away from the four wheeler that he was in no danger when the vehicle ignited. The Lawsons all stopped when the woof and roar occured and watched the vehicle burn. Joshua lay in the grass long enough to make sure Birdbrain worked his way out of the burlap.
When Ernest found out that the Lawsons welcomed the dispute, he told the dad and the grandpa about the tricks Birdbrain had pulled. The two Lawsons nodded their heads, and when Ernest mentioned the high power rifle incident, the grandpa said, "We got one of those." Grandpa expected Birdbrain to try the dump truck trick again with the large rocks, so the little kids took turns shinning up the pine in the front yard and using grandpa's spyglass. Clayburn, the ten year old, came down the tree all excited, "He's a loading big rocks up," Clayburn said.
Lemuel took the spyglass and climbed up for a look, "He will finish the load tomorrow," said Lemuel.
Grandpa sat down, and when the kids saw him get that look, they knew to be quiet. When Grandpa started grinning, the kids knew it was ok to talk, and they all began at one time. Grandpa held his hands up and said, "Here is our plan." That night the boys took shovels and created a ditch in the driveway that was just wide enough for a big tire to drop into and deep enough that the dump truck would sink to the axles. Then they covered it over with pine branches and a sprinkling of straw and dirt. That night, again about two AM, a low moan signaled a slow moving vehicle coming their way. The vehicle stopped and started backing down their drive. There was a sudden clank, the sound of changing gears, and the roar of an engine as Birdbrain tried to rock his way out of the ditch. He finally got out of the truck, and that was the signal for five guns to start firing in the air. The culprit took off running down the road, and all the kids started laughing. Dad Lawson folded back the hood of the dump truck, loosenesd the fuel line, and started the engine back up. It was about five minutes before the loose fuel caught fire, at which time Grandpa called the fire station. He told the fire chief the next morning that they had no idea who the dump truck belonged to or what it was doing in the driveway, but it looked like someone had abandoned it and left the motor running. The sheriff sent out a tow trujck which hauled off the burnt remains.
Dad and Grandpa Lawson told the kids that they all had to lay low for awhile, that old Birdbrain was probably really mad right now, and they didn't want the kids on that side of property at all. After about three weeks, the older boys figured it was time to create a little havoc themselves, and they conferred on potential sources of irritation. Birdbrain was still tearing down the lane in his pickup, and that gave Leroy the idea of creating some potholes. He asked Dad and Grandpa about that, and Dad Lawson asked the kids to not pester the neighbor anymore. Maybe Birdbrain had learned his lesson; the fence was up and no more trouble had come their way.
Birdbrain stewed over the humiliation for another six months and kept trying to figure out a plan to get rid of the newcomers. His wife, however, had never approved of his actions or schemes, and she gathered up the courage to tell him that if he didn't leave folks alone she was through with him One more wild scheme, she said, and she was going back to Houston and live with her sister. Birdbrain gave her a half hearted assurance and figured what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
Clayburn, the ten year old who had spotted Birdbrain loading up the rocks, really enjoyed the adventure of climbing the pine and spying on the country side using Grandpa's glass. He took advantage of every opportunity to assume his favorite position aloft and one Saturday morning was intrigued to see Birdbrain dragging his dog out to post in his backyard and tying him there. Directly Birdbrain came out of his house with a rifle and from a distance shot the dog. Clayburn saw the dog struggling to get loose from the tie rope and heard the dog's howls. In about forty minutes a sheriff's patrol car arrived at Birdbrains's and Clayburn saw the ornery man pointing toward the Lawson's house. In a few minutes the patrol car drove towards the Lawson's, and Clayburn hurried down the tree to report to his dad what had transpired. When the deputy arrived, they all met him in front of the house, and the deputy related what the neighbor had accused the family of. "Yes," said Mr. Lawson, "we have a 22, but you had better listen to what my son Clayburn has to say."
The deputy drove back over to Birdbrains's and walked the backyard to the post and examined the ground. Sure enough, there was not only a puddle of blood there, but there was a bullet hole in the post with hair imbedded. He wrote Birdbrain up for filing a false report and for cruelty to an animal. Clara, Birdbrain's wife, was true to her word; she threw two suitcases into her little Escort and left the same day. The Lawson later heard that Birdbrains's company demoted him and transferred him to another city.
Clara was not the only woman that was dissatisfied. Mrs. Lawson wanted to leave too, but she had different reasons. She was homesick and wanted her husband to take a job in her father's store back in Tennessee. When the factory slowdown caused some layoffs, Mr. Lawson contacted Ernest and told him they were returning to Tennessee. At that time, the stare was putting a major highway through the area where Ernest and Maxine had relocated, and the traffic was already increasing dramatically, so the couple decided to return to the five acre ranchette. They rediscovered how peaceful it was when they first moved there, and the deer and their fawns had no trouble making their way through or over the barbed wire fence.