Honesty

There come times when we are tested. Actually, every day we're tested - we just don't know it. Usually it's small stuff, but every now and then, something a little bigger comes along - and it's these situations, where the true notion of your character and values comes into play.

Case in point - on New Year's Eve, in my haste to pick up my dear friend Leslie I didn't take enough care backing my truck out. Halfway through, I had that thought, "Woah - I'm backing up pretty fast - I should make sure the hood of my truck clears the neighbor's car" By the time I looked up, it was too late. My eyes saw the bottom corner of the neighbor's VW's jetta's mirror start to bend - and since it was a cold night - CRACK. SHIT!

Ugh. This was bound to happen sooner or later. As Hilary can attest, (and pretty much everyone else who has seen the back alley), the neighbors and I share a microscopic parking space. Somehow, we cram a Jetta and a Nissan Pickup in a spot meant for barely one and a half cars. As I got out and surveyed the damage - my mind was already foreseeing the nightmare ahead. Our neighbors who live below us are nuts. They yell at each other all the time and say stuff that makes the hair on the back of Hil and I's necks stand up. How can you call your partner a "fucking moron" over and over day after day?

I seriously debated taking the easy route, which was to take the piece of plastic on the ground, toss it into the truck and pretend nothing happened. Maybe they wouldn't find out. Heck - they were slated to move out at the end of January - out of sight out of mind. And besides - this was a Volkswagen - this stupid side mirror could cost three hundred bucks.

I had visions of dollars signs with wings fluttering away from me. My heart was aching about the number of classes that I would have to teach just to pay for this stupid mirror. Money that would be better spent on stuff like food, or going out for dinner with Hilary. Nothing grandiose, but it's those small luxuries every now and then, like sushi once a month, that make that daily grind in a strange city a little easier.

But something nagged within me - and I realized that this was not the way I wanted to start the new year - by being deceitful. It wasn't the right thing to do.

After partying that night, I left a note on their door, fessing up to what I did.

***

The next day, I could hear them screaming at each other about the car mirror and what they were gonna do - about who's fault it was. I had flashbacks to growing up - sitting on the stairs hearing my parents yelling at each other. Of course, these folks weren't my parents - but man, they were certainly as viscious with one another. I braced myself for shopping for a new car mirror this week.

***

Today, as I came home from teaching, there was a note on my door. It was the neighbours. Basically they said not to worry about the mirror and that it was no one's fault. They even wrote a joke about how hopefully the new tenants owned a Smart Car. I was amazed.

People have a way of surprising you.

Trying my best to do the right thing,

j