The man upstairs introduced himself three days later.<\/p>\n
His name was Samuel.<\/p>\n
He was younger than Daniel had been when he moved in, perhaps thirty-five, and he worked from home. He had a habit of taking phone calls on the balcony, which meant I occasionally heard half of his conversations through the open window.<\/p>\n
He was polite.<\/p>\n
A little reserved.<\/p>\n
And apparently incapable of keeping a plant alive.<\/p>\n
Within two weeks, every plant on his balcony looked thirsty.<\/p>\n
One afternoon, I knocked on his door.<\/p>\n
He opened it with a surprised expression.<\/p>\n
"Hi."<\/p>\n
"I'm Margaret from 3B."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
I raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n
"You do?"<\/p>\n
"The balcony."<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
"Of course."<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
"Is something wrong?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
I pointed upward.<\/p>\n
"Your plants are dying."<\/p>\n
He looked genuinely alarmed.<\/p>\n
"They are?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"I thought they looked like that normally."<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
"No. They're thirsty."<\/p>\n
He looked embarrassed.<\/p>\n
"I've never owned plants."<\/p>\n
"That explains it."<\/p>\n
"Can you help?"<\/p>\n
"Certainly."<\/p>\n
We spent twenty minutes watering them.<\/p>\n
Samuel listened carefully.<\/p>\n
He asked questions.<\/p>\n
He took notes.<\/p>\n
I found myself enjoying the simplicity of it.<\/p>\n
When we finished, he looked at the balcony.<\/p>\n
"Thank you."<\/p>\n
"You're welcome."<\/p>\n
Then he noticed the mug in my hand.<\/p>\n
It was the one Daniel had given me.<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
"Nice mug."<\/p>\n
"It has a history."<\/p>\n
"What kind?"<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
"One involving a tea bag."<\/p>\n
He laughed.<\/p>\n
"I don't think I want to ask."<\/p>\n
"Probably wise."<\/p>\n
That should have been the end of it.<\/p>\n
But a week later, another tea bag appeared.<\/p>\n
It landed near my chair at 7:11 in the morning.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
My first reaction was not anger.<\/p>\n
It was disappointment.<\/p>\n
I looked upward.<\/p>\n
Samuel's balcony door was open.<\/p>\n
He wasn't there.<\/p>\n
I picked up the tea bag.<\/p>\n
Then I heard his voice.<\/p>\n
"Margaret?"<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
He was standing behind the glass.<\/p>\n
He opened the door.<\/p>\n
"Did something fall?"<\/p>\n
I held up the tea bag.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
"Oh."<\/p>\n
He looked horrified.<\/p>\n
"I swear I didn't throw that."<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
"I believe you."<\/p>\n
"It must have fallen out of the trash."<\/p>\n
"Then secure your trash."<\/p>\n
"I will."<\/p>\n
He disappeared inside.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, he knocked on my door.<\/p>\n
"I fixed it."<\/p>\n
"That was fast."<\/p>\n
"I didn't want you thinking\u2014"<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"That I knew about the story and was testing you."<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
"That thought hadn't occurred to me."<\/p>\n
"It occurred to me."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because my friend told me."<\/p>\n
"What friend?"<\/p>\n
"Leah."<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
"Leah knows you?"<\/p>\n
"She rented my old apartment."<\/p>\n
The building suddenly felt impossibly small.<\/p>\n
Samuel laughed.<\/p>\n
"She told me about Daniel."<\/p>\n
"Of course she did."<\/p>\n
"She said the tea bag story is legendary."<\/p>\n
"It was not legendary."<\/p>\n
"It was to her."<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
"Please don't encourage this."<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
"I won't."<\/p>\n
And he didn't.<\/p>\n
The tea bags stopped.<\/p>\n
The plants recovered.<\/p>\n
Samuel became another ordinary neighbor.<\/p>\n
That was when I realized how different I had become.<\/p>\n
Years earlier, one tea bag would have consumed my attention.<\/p>\n
Now one tea bag could be handled with a conversation.<\/p>\n
Not because I tolerated it.<\/p>\n
Because I knew how to distinguish an accident from a pattern.<\/p>\n
That distinction saved me from unnecessary anger.<\/p>\n
It also saved Samuel from being judged for someone else's history.<\/p>\n
Months later, Daniel visited again.<\/p>\n
He brought Emily.<\/p>\n
She was now old enough to read the tea mug without asking what it meant.<\/p>\n
We sat on the balcony.<\/p>\n
Samuel was upstairs watering his plants.<\/p>\n
Emily looked up.<\/p>\n
"Is that the new neighbor?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Does he throw tea bags?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Are you sure?"<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
"He dropped one."<\/p>\n
Emily looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
"Like you?"<\/p>\n
"Not exactly."<\/p>\n
"What happened?"<\/p>\n
Daniel sighed.<\/p>\n
"I apologized."<\/p>\n
"Good."<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Did you forgive him?"<\/p>\n
"I accepted his apology."<\/p>\n
"That's not the same."<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
She thought for a moment.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because forgiveness is something you decide for yourself."<\/p>\n
She looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
"Did you forgive Daddy?"<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
"That's his question to answer."<\/p>\n
Daniel smiled.<\/p>\n
"I hope she did."<\/p>\n
Emily looked satisfied.<\/p>\n
"Then you're friends."<\/p>\n
"We've established that I'm not his friend."<\/p>\n
Daniel shook his head.<\/p>\n
"She says that every time."<\/p>\n
"Because it's true."<\/p>\n
Emily laughed.<\/p>\n
The afternoon passed quickly.<\/p>\n
Before they left, Emily handed me another drawing.<\/p>\n
This one showed several balconies stacked above each other.<\/p>\n
Every balcony had a person.<\/p>\n
Every person had a cup.<\/p>\n
At the bottom was a small trash can.<\/p>\n
I held it up.<\/p>\n
"Very subtle."<\/p>\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n
"Daddy helped."<\/p>\n
"I did not."<\/p>\n
"You did."<\/p>\n
"I gave you the idea."<\/p>\n
"Exactly."<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
After they left, I placed the drawing beside the mug.<\/p>\n
That evening, Samuel knocked.<\/p>\n
"I wanted to ask you something."<\/p>\n
"Sure."<\/p>\n
"Would you like these?"<\/p>\n
He handed me a small box.<\/p>\n
Inside were tea bags.<\/p>\n
Different flavors.<\/p>\n
Chamomile.<\/p>\n
Peppermint.<\/p>\n
Earl Grey.<\/p>\n
Green tea.<\/p>\n
"Why are you giving me these?"<\/p>\n
"Because I bought too many."<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
He started laughing.<\/p>\n
"That's cruel."<\/p>\n
"I couldn't resist."<\/p>\n
I laughed too.<\/p>\n
"Fine."<\/p>\n
He left.<\/p>\n
I made a cup of peppermint tea.<\/p>\n
Then I sat outside.<\/p>\n
The building was quiet.<\/p>\n
The air smelled like rain.<\/p>\n
I looked at the balconies above.<\/p>\n
Three years earlier, I would have watched them carefully.<\/p>\n
Now I simply looked.<\/p>\n
There is a difference.<\/p>\n
One is vigilance.<\/p>\n
The other is awareness.<\/p>\n
I had spent enough years learning it.<\/p>\n
A week later, I received a call from Daniel.<\/p>\n
He sounded excited.<\/p>\n
"Emily has won something."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"A writing competition."<\/p>\n
"What did she write?"<\/p>\n
There was a pause.<\/p>\n
"The balcony story."<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
"You're joking."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"What did she call it?"<\/p>\n
He told me.<\/p>\n
I was silent.<\/p>\n
It was a beautiful title.<\/p>\n
Simple.<\/p>\n
Nothing about tea bags.<\/p>\n
Nothing about neighbors.<\/p>\n
Nothing about revenge.<\/p>\n
It was about a person learning that boundaries and kindness could exist at the same time.<\/p>\n
"Did she use my name?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Good."<\/p>\n
"She used Balcony Lady."<\/p>\n
I groaned.<\/p>\n
Daniel laughed.<\/p>\n
"She said that's your literary name."<\/p>\n
"She is impossible."<\/p>\n
"She gets that from you."<\/p>\n
"Absolutely not."<\/p>\n
He laughed.<\/p>\n
Then he became quiet.<\/p>\n
"She wrote something I want to read to you."<\/p>\n
"All right."<\/p>\n
He read the final paragraph.<\/p>\n
It said that sometimes a person throws something small because they don't know where else to put a much bigger feeling.<\/p>\n
But the person who receives it doesn't have to catch the feeling too.<\/p>\n
She can put the object down.<\/p>\n
She can say no.<\/p>\n
She can choose what belongs to her and what doesn't.<\/p>\n
I sat quietly.<\/p>\n
Daniel finished.<\/p>\n
"Well?"<\/p>\n
I wiped my eyes.<\/p>\n
"She's a good writer."<\/p>\n
"She is."<\/p>\n
"Tell her I'm proud of her."<\/p>\n
"I will."<\/p>\n
We talked for a while longer.<\/p>\n
After the call, I returned to the balcony.<\/p>\n
I looked at the tea mug.<\/p>\n
Then at the trash can.<\/p>\n
Then at the railing.<\/p>\n
It struck me how perfectly ordinary all three objects were.<\/p>\n
A cup.<\/p>\n
A bin.<\/p>\n
A railing.<\/p>\n
Yet together they represented the entire strange history of my relationship with Daniel.<\/p>\n
The cup represented what he was carrying.<\/p>\n
The bin represented responsibility.<\/p>\n
The railing represented a boundary.<\/p>\n
None of them were complicated.<\/p>\n
People were.<\/p>\n
The following morning, I woke early.<\/p>\n
I opened the balcony door.<\/p>\n
A small breeze moved through the plants.<\/p>\n
Nothing had fallen.<\/p>\n
Nothing needed fixing.<\/p>\n
I sat down with my tea.<\/p>\n
For once, I didn't think about what might happen next.<\/p>\n
I simply drank it.<\/p>\n
That was perhaps the final gift the whole experience had given me.<\/p>\n
Peace did not always come from making sure nothing went wrong.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it came from knowing you could handle it if something did.<\/p>\n
The man upstairs introduced himself three days later. His name was Samuel. He was younger than Daniel had been when he moved in, perhaps thirty-five, and he worked from home. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3774,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762\/revisions\/3774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}