Sam lived by himself in a 4,000 square foot house that he lived with his late wife Mary before her sudden tragic death a couple of years ago. Sam and Mary were married for over forty years and he missed her dearly. They were high school sweethearts and were never apart except when they broke up for a few months in their younger days before getting married. They both realized they couldn't live without each other and Sam proposed shortly after they got back together. They had four children who were now adults and scattered throughout the country. Sam would visit them or come into town every once in a while, but he was mostly by himself for the most part.
After Mary's death, Sam became a hermit. He was bitter because he couldn't understand how God could take such a lovely woman as his wife at a fairly early age. He received a large insurance settlement and retired from his job as an engineer so he was financially set in his golden years. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get over being without Mary. He became despondent and just wanted to be left alone. He got annoyed when acquaintances would try to get him out of the house, or even worse, try to play matchmaker by introducing him to another woman. No one could replace Mary. Sam was an attractive older man at six-foot-tall, in his early sixties with gray hair who still went to the gym every day but he still liked his beer or wine and had a little bit of a gut.
Friends of Sam tried the best they could to get him to snap out of his funk but after a while, they even gave up on him, which made him become even more of a hermit. His only pleasure was the inground pool in his yard and his garden. He paid a service to maintain the pool for him and he could be found at the poolside most of the time even if it was only to have a cup of coffee and browse the Internet. He would spend a considerable amount of time taking care of his prize roses, a flower his wife loved.
Sam was still a virile man and missed having sex with his wife but didn't want anything to do with dating or even being with women his own age. He had no interest in the drama that came with a relationship. If he got tired of jerking off he would go to a local body rub establishment or a strip club for a lap dance to pay a young woman for a handjob. He got the pleasure of being serviced by a younger woman with no strings attached. Besides, he hadn't had full-blown sex with a woman other than Mary in over forty years. He had no interest in the complications of dating again and pretending to like someone just to have sex. He figured he was doomed to live out the rest of his life alone.
Several months ago, a young divorcee, Sue, rented the house next door. Sue had a seven-year-old son, Mikey, who was a normal, active young boy. Just after they moved in, Sue saw Sam over the back fence and said hello but he grunted something and went back into the house. She got the same response the next day and the next. She was trying to be a friendly neighbor but Sam just wanted to be left alone.
Even though Sam wasn't very friendly, he noticed that his new neighbor was pretty darn cute. Sue was average in height, maybe about 5'6", and although her hips were a bit wide, no doubt from having a child, she was slender with full, round breasts, he guessed to be 36d. When he saw her in shorts, he couldn't help but stare at her ample butt and thick thighs but for the most part, Sue wore loose-fitting clothing that hid her decent body. She had long, light brown hair with blonde highlights. She was a pretty young lady but Sam still wasn't looking for a friendship with anyone. He just wanted to be left alone.
There weren't any other children in the neighborhood his age so Mikey spent a lot of time playing in the front and back yards. Sam had no idea how a kid, playing alone, could make so much darn noise but he found Mikey annoying and disturbing to the peaceful neighborhood. Basketballs were constantly flying over the fence and into Sam's pool. Mikey was constantly coming over to retrieve his ball and bother Sam because Sam didn't want the kid accidentally drowning in his pool.
After retrieving the ball from his pool several times per day, Sam finally approached Sue and angrily told her, "Can't you move the damn basketball net so the kid's ball stays in your yard. If this keeps happening, I'm just going to keep the friggin ball."
Sue was taken aback by the intensity of Sam's anger and profusely apologized to Sam. She didn't want to cause any problems with the new neighbor so she moved the basketball net to the front of the house. It worked out better, that is until one time the ball landed in one of Sam's rose gardens and did some damage to one of his late wife's favorite rose bushes. When Sam saw Mikey getting his ball and spotted the damage he did to the rose bush, Sam yelled at Mikey to get away from the garden. The young boy got frightened and went running home, crying.
Just as Sam was getting the ball out of his garden, Sue came over pissed off too. She confronted Sam about yelling at her son and told him if he had a problem in the future, he should come and see her. Sam told her the simple solution was to keep her kid's toys off his property. She grabbed the ball and stormed off angrily mumbling something under her breath.
Sam felt a little bad but the young boy damaged something that meant a lot to him and his memories of his wife.
Sue kept her son away from Sam for about a week when Mikey was throwing a ball up in the air and trying to hit it with a plastic bat. He missed it more than he hit it but one time he hit the ball really hard onto Sam's lawn. He got scared but decided to try and sneak over and get his ball. Just as he was about to pick it up, Sam appeared at his screen door and caught Mikey on his lawn.
Mikey was scared and startled and stammered, "I'm sssssorry, sir."
Sam replied, "That's okay."
"No, it's not sir. Mommy said you're a grumpy old man and not to bother you."
Sam was stunned at his comment and went back inside his house. The young boy's statement kept bothering Sam for the rest of the day, mostly because he knew it was true; he had turned into a miserable old man just like the mean old man on his street when Sam was younger. The last thing Sam ever thought he would turn into was the grumpy old man in the neighborhood. The boy had a lasting impact on Sam's outlook on life. From that day forward, Sam decided he needed to change. Mary would be so disappointed that he turned out to be so bitter and yelling at young kids. She would have put him in his place a long time ago.
The next morning, when Sam saw Sue in the backyard and he called out over the fence, "Good morning, Sue."
Sue had to look around to make sure she was hearing properly then responded, "Uh, good morning, Sam."
She was confused as heck but didn't question the simple gesture of kindness coming out of her grumpy neighbor. A few days later, Sam came over to the fence to ask Sue how her day was going and she told him it was as stressful as usual but that was normal. She wondered if Sam was actually trying to be friendly but still wanted to keep him at a distance. Sue had more experience with Sam yelling at her son than being friendly so she wasn't going to let down her guard.
One afternoon, Sam noticed Sue, pitching baseballs to Mikey who seemed to be struggling to hit the ball. Sam had coached his kids in baseball for years and could see that Sue had no idea what she was doing but was trying her best as a single mom to help her son. Sam could only watch the child struggle for so long before he went over to the fence and offered to help Mikey. Sue wasn't quite sure how to respond to this random act of kindness but was desperate to help her son and gratefully accepted Sam's offer.
When Sam got to their yard, Sue explained how Mikey was struggling in little league and led the team in strikeouts and batted last. Some of the other kids were making fun of him too. Sam spent the next hour working with Mikey on the proper hitting techniques and the youngster showed a marked improvement. At the end of the hour, Sam pitched Mikey a ball and he got a solid hit. He hit so hard it went straight for Sam's property and broke a window on the side of the garage. Sue and Mikey were startled and worried that Sam was going to explode in anger. They stared at him in fright.
Sue immediately said, "I'm so sorry, Sam. I'll pay to have it fixed. I'm really sorry."
Sam looked at the window then back at the boy and his mom laughed, and said, "I think Mikey is going to do okay at tonight's game. Don't worry about the window. I'll get it fixed. It's only glass."
