For 6 years, I secretly paid my 84-year-old neighbor’s $29 water bill, certain she never knew. The morning after her funeral, her son showed up at my door with an attorney and accused me of mani:pulating her for money. Then he said she had changed her will. That was when I remembered the sealed envelope she had given me months earlier with one warning: “Do not open this unless someone comes asking questions after I’m gone.” I handed it to the attorney. He read the first page twice. Then he looked at my neighbor’s son and asked one question that made all the anger disappear from his face.
Six years earlier, I had come home from work and found her sitting on her porch with an orange utility notice folded beneath one hand.
She tried to hide it when she saw me.
I pretended not to notice.
Eleanor had always been fiercely independent. She would accept tomatoes from my garden or let me change a lightbulb, but if she thought someone was helping out of pity, she shut down immediately.
That evening, I called the utility company and paid the $29 overdue balance.
The next month, I did it again.
Eventually, I arranged to cover the bill automatically.
It was a small amount to me.
For Eleanor, I hoped it meant one less thing to worry about.