Jason discovers his daughter sobbing when his cell phone rings in the middle of the night. He learns during the talk that her landlord is evicting her from her residence. Jason makes the decision to discipline the landlord.
It was so unexpected that I answered the phone without even considering who it might be from in the middle of the night.
However, my daughter Lily was crying on the other end of the call.
“Dad,” her voice breaking, she cried.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting up right away and putting on my slippers. “Tell me, Lily, what’s happening?”
“I told my landlord that I was getting a raise at work. Nolan and I were toasting and joking about it while we sat on the porch. Naturally, he heard it from the front house as well. He hasn’t stopped talking about upgrades and increased rent since.”
I hesitantly replied, “Okay,” attempting to gauge her response.
It was a filthy method of taking advantage of people, for sure, but it wasn’t cause for concern.
“But sweetheart, why are you crying?” I questioned, attempting to maintain my composure.
I wanted to sprint to my child with all of my heart. However, I would wait for her to give me an excuse before acting.
“After I had no reaction to the rent increase, he secretly threw some old, prohibited chemical containers into my backyard and then accused me of violating the lease by storing hazardous materials on the property,” she stated.
“What?” I lost it. “That’s illegal!”
“And he has given me two days to move out,” she added.
I was furious. That backyard had been a lifeless plot until my daughter turned it into a lush haven. She put her whole being into each and every flower, plant, and even veggie.
This was the way she had always been. Lily was not the kind of kid who liked to play with her toys indoors. Her favorite thing to do was stay outside and explore the growth process with her hands soiled.
She said to me, “This is so much fun, Dad,” one day while she was planting flowers and I was mowing the grass.
She pointed and remarked, “There are a few worms there.” “But I still planted the seedlings anyway.”
Her mom detested it. She wanted Lily to look put together, have neatly ironed clothes, and have hair that held its curl.
My wife Jenna would remark, “You need to stop enabling this behavior, Jason.” “Encourage her to be a little lady.”
“There’s no way, Jenna,” I would consistently reply. “Let this sweet girl just be herself.”
Now all I wanted to do was try to salvage Lily after everything she’d done to her own space, made with her own green fingers.
“Don’t worry, honey,” I reassured her, my plan beginning to take shape.
She enquired, “How, Dad?”
“Because we’ll find a solution. And we’ll carry it out jointly.”
I arrived at Lily’s apartment with my pickup and a few buddies the following evening. We had a good supply of righteous rage along with our flashlights.
Right, folks,” I uttered. “This is what we’re going to do for my daughter. Jack is going to learn a lesson from us. that you cannot go around taking advantage of young women in your capacity as a landlord.”
We carefully disassembled the complete sanctuary Lily had created in her backyard.
“Dad?” When Lily realized we were there, she inquired. “What’s going on?”
“Hello my love,” I murmured. “Your landlord is going to learn a lesson from us. This is not something he can accomplish. We will therefore disassemble everything. I’ll also take your plants with me.”
Lily stretched and yawned.
She said, “I’ll leave you to it, Dad.” “When the sun rises, I’m going to resume packing up the place after taking a brief nap. Until I find a place, I’m going to remain with Nolan. He’ll be back shortly with more boxes.”
I said, “Go on.” “We’ll be quiet, I promise.”
Every carefully cultivated plant and every laboriously constructed bed disappeared as we worked. The once-flourishing garden had become a barren patch of dirt by the time we finished, a sharp contrast to the lush pictures Jack, the landlord, had already uploaded for the new listing.
I said, “Thanks, guys.” “You’re free to go. Just helping Lily pack will do. Malcolm, I’ll pick up my truck later.
I wasn’t finished. There was unfinished business.
We moved furnishings around the house to draw attention to every flaw.
Lily’s artworks did not cover up the wall fissures. There were no kitchen equipment to hide the absent tiles, so they were left exposed.
“Nothing can be done about the ceiling mold in the bathroom,” Lily informed me. “But I have been telling the landlord that we needed to sort it out.”
All the light bulbs were changed to extremely bright blue-white ones, which left the entire space feeling sterile and unwelcoming.
Lily and I chatted about her stay in the house as we worked.
She uttered the words, “I remember when I first moved in,” with a tinge of nostalgia. “There was only concrete and mud in the backyard. Furthermore, I doubted that anything could develop here. However, it did in the end. And I would come out here and tend to whatever was growing or plant something new whenever I was lonesome.”
“And you successfully made it happen,” I grinned in return. “You turned it into a paradise.”
She let out a sigh.
“It seems so unjust, really. Even though I followed every step correctly, he managed to spoil everything.”
I reassured her, “We’re not going to let him win.” This is merely an inconvenience. A brand-new journey is in store for you. For the time being, Nolan’s apartment is a good stop, but I know he’s serious about you. Perhaps moving into a new home together will be the next move.”
I knew that my daughter’s landlord would have a very harsh wake-up call the following day when I left her place.
“Dad, can you come over?” Early that morning, Lily called and made the inquiry. “Please be here when I have to hand over the keys to Jack.”
I said, spreading butter on my slice of toast, “I’ll be there soon.”
Jack walked in, furious, just as Lily had me placing her shoes into a box.
He yelled, “What the hell, Lily?” “Where are the vegetation located? The bouquets? The images on the internet accurately depict the intended appearance of this location.”
With a heavy sigh, his face took on the hue of an especially ripe tomato.
Lily, the epitome of purity, gave him a blink.
She said, “What plants, Jack?” “The backyard has always looked like this, haven’t you noticed?”
She pointed to the barren area while wearing a cunning smile.
After being exposed for his fraudulent scheme, Jack made some rambling threats regarding destruction to property. I intervened and pointed out the flaws.
“You want to talk about damage?” I spoke in a chilly tone.
“Let’s talk about the mold in the bathroom, the missing tiles, and the wall fissures. Is everything now plainly visible to you?
Jack peered into the bathroom, his eyes widening.
He exclaimed, “This is obviously sabotage!”
“No,” I answered, removing the pictures I had taken at the time Lily came in.
“When she moved in, the home was precisely like this. It’s even more organized now. Jack, nothing is absent.”
Jack attempted to gather himself, but the three couples that attended the afternoon viewing saw the house in its unfinished, ugly state. Without submitting an application, they all left.
After a few months, Lily managed to find a new apartment with a landlord who valued her green thumb in addition to the possibility for financial gain. I was pleased of my daughter as she settled into her new house.
Sitting on her new porch, Lily and I gazed out over the large yard that would soon become her next effort in the garden.
She said, “Dad, I can’t thank you enough,” exhilaration and relief lighting up her eyes. “I was so scared, but you knew exactly what to do.”
We swung on the porch swing together as I grinned and squeezed her hand. “You accomplished the difficult part, young one. You defied him. You now have a new beginning.”
How would you have responded in that situation?