I threw on a robe, walked outside and approached her car.
“Monica, what are you doing?”
She turned toward me without looking particularly concerned.
“Charging my car,” she replied.
I pointed toward the cable.
“From my house?”
She shrugged.
“Yeah. What’s the big deal?”
For a moment, I genuinely couldn’t believe the conversation was happening.
“The big deal,” I said, trying desperately to stay calm, “is that you’re using my electricity.”
Monica looked at me as though I’d just complained about someone borrowing a cup of sugar.
“Oh, please.”
I told her my electricity bill had nearly doubled.
She laughed.
“It’s probably only a few dollars.”
That response stunned me even more than discovering the cable.
It wasn’t an accident.
It wasn’t a misunderstanding.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
“You Live Alone”
I reminded her that the electricity belonged to me and that she couldn’t simply use my outdoor outlet whenever she wanted.
