I found an extension lead running from my neighbor\u2019s garage into the socket on the back of my house. I confronted him: \u201cThat\u2019s my power you\u2019re using. It\u2019s on MY meter!\u201d He laughed: \u201cC\u2019mon, it\u2019s only pennies!\u201d So I installed a lockable cover. This morning, I froze when I found a note through my letterbox saying: \u201cYou\u2019re colder than your electricity, mate.\u201d I stared at the note for a while. At first, I was angry. Then a bit confused. Then\u2026 strangely, I felt guilty. I didn\u2019t know why. I wasn\u2019t the one stealing power. Still, the words hit something in me. Maybe it was the \u201cmate\u201d at the end. We used to be, sort of.<\/p>\n
His name was Ron. He\u2019d lived next door for about ten years. Always fixing up old things in his garage. Radios, bikes, furniture. A few years ago, he lost his wife, Maureen. Cancer. After that, he kept to himself more. We used to talk more. Barbecue in the summer, swap lawnmowers, that kind of thing. But after Maureen passed, he sort of shrank into his garage and left the world outside. I tried to keep the connection going. Knocked on his door once or twice with extra soup or pie. He always thanked me, but never invited me in.<\/p>\n
So when I saw the extension lead last week, I snapped. I thought, \u201cThat\u2019s it. I\u2019m not a charity.\u201d I didn\u2019t stop to wonder why he might need the power. I just bought the lockable cover and screwed it in tight. And now, this note. \u201cYou\u2019re colder than your electricity, mate.\u201d I tucked it in my coat pocket and went about my day, but it stayed with me like a pebble in my shoe. That evening, I looked out my kitchen window. Ron\u2019s garage was dark. It had been for a few nights now. His lights were always dim anyway, but now, pitch black. No movement. No sound of that old radio of his crackling in the background.<\/p>\n
Out of some uneasy feeling, I walked over. I knocked. No answer. I called out. Nothing. Then I saw him through the small frosted window\u2014on the floor. I climbed the fence and rushed inside. The door was unlocked. He was breathing, but barely. I called an ambulance. Turned out Ron had diabetes. He hadn\u2019t been eating right. Said the fridge stopped working a week ago and he hadn\u2019t the money to fix it. His electricity had been cut off. That\u2019s why he\u2019d run the lead. He didn\u2019t want to tell anyone. He didn\u2019t want to feel like a burden. READ MORE BELOW<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I found an extension lead running from my neighbor\u2019s garage into the socket on the back of my house. I confronted him: \u201cThat\u2019s my power you\u2019re using…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n