Then, unbelievably, he laughed.
“Okay. Yeah. Sometimes.”
I stared at him.
“Sometimes?”
He shrugged as though I’d asked whether he’d borrowed a garden hose.
“Have you seen gas prices lately?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
His expression hardened.
“Come on, Frank.”
“No. You come on, Clark. You’ve been sneaking onto my property in the middle of the night.”
He sighed dramatically.
“You’re retired.”
I went still.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You sit home most of the time. I drive to work every day. I’ve got kids to take to school.”
“So?”
“So you barely use the truck.”
For several seconds, I genuinely didn’t know how to answer.
Not because he had a point.
Because I couldn’t believe he thought he did.
Finally I said, very slowly, “You don’t get to decide how much of my property I need.”
Clark rolled his eyes.
“God, Frank. Don’t be greedy.”
That was so ridiculous I laughed.
“I’m greedy?”
“It’s a couple gallons. We’re neighbors. We’re supposed to share.”
Share.
That word did it.
I’d shared with Clark plenty.
I’d loaned him tools.
Jump-started his wife’s car.
Helped clear branches after a storm.
I’d let him use my pressure washer.
My ladder.
My socket set.
Sharing wasn’t the problem.
Sharing required one person to offer and the other to accept.
Clark wasn’t sharing.
Clark was taking.
“Stay away from my truck.”
He shook his head.
“You’re making this into something way bigger than it is.”
“I don’t care how big you think it is.”
I looked him straight in the eye.
“Stay away from Earl.”
Then I went home.
I genuinely thought the embarrassment of being caught would stop him.
I was wrong.
Part 3 — He Came Back Anyway
Three nights later, Clark returned.
When I checked the camera the next morning, there he was.
Same driveway.
Same gas can.
Same hose.
Same truck.
At one point, he actually turned and looked almost directly toward the camera.
That was the moment my anger changed.
The first time, Clark might have believed I would never find out.
But now he knew.
He knew there was a camera.
He knew I had seen him.
He knew I had confronted him.
And he did it again anyway.
That meant the problem wasn’t really gasoline anymore.
