My neighbor let her dog use my lawn as a toilet every morning for six months and never cleaned up once — I stayed polite until she made one comment I couldn’t forget, and by the next morning I’d taught her a lesson without raising my voice once.

gets quiet before he gets angry.

I could practically watch him consider walking next door.

Then he stopped himself.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“I already know.”

I explained.

He stared at me for a second.

Then he smiled.

“Set the alarm for 7:15.”

“Already done.”

“Need me?”

“No. Stay in bed.”

He gave me that familiar look he sometimes gives when I do something that reminds him exactly why he married me.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll make breakfast afterward.”

That night, lying in bed, I