OUR HAPPY HOME

A friend told me the following:

Many years ago, before I was a bishop, or even a husband or father, I decided, to buy a small home. I had paid rent before and knew that if I gave away money every month for my landlord to spend, I was being financially unwise. It’s hard to believe now, but I had to borrow even my down payment and paid house payments of 68 dollars per month. It may not seem much today, but back then, it was a tidy sum.

Of course, even a small home brings additional expenses and more than once I had nightmares about what would happen if I failed to make my house payment.
After several months, I came across the idea that if I became a landlord and rented out the basement, I could pay my bills more easily.

It seemed reasonable; however, I was not as careful in choosing a renter as I should have been. A divorced woman with a small child and a large, black dog applied and we made a verbal agreement that she was to pay the rent the first of the month and keep her child and dog from ruining the apartment. She had recently been divorced, so I felt sorry for her and decided to forego the first month’s rent deposit and she moved it. It didn’t take long to realize that I had made a horrible mistake.

Her four year old boy wrote on the walls, screamed incessantly and broke everything that wasn’t tied down. Her large, black dog barked around the clock and defecated and urinated anywhere he felt, with no argument from the woman. The lady spent most of her day watching TV and smoking cigarettes and complaining about her child and dog and what a bother they were. When I was home, I offered to give her dog away but she refused, saying that although the dog was a lot of trouble, he was good watchdog.

I heard every excuse in the world as to why she could not pay the rent or about how there was a check she was expecting to be credited to her account soon from some prior work she had done. It was hard for me to imagine her working at anything. She hadn’t paid the rent in six months. I was employed nights, at the time and the dog barked all day when I was trying to sleep.

I begged the woman to get rid of the dog or at least keep it quiet and that it was robbing my sleep, but she flatly refused. The problem became worse with each passing day and it made me a little crazy, although, even now, I admit I was not right in what I did next.

One day, after weeks without a decent night’s rest, I loaded my 22 caliber rifle and shot her dog in the head. I killed him with one shot, as he barked outside my window, while tied to a chain. She immediately called animal control and every policeman in the local area showed up. I had to do a lot of fast talking and pay a huge fine, but they finally let me go. Surprisingly, even after all that, she did not want to leave a place where she could have free rent. Finally, two months later, I was able to get her evicted. Her living area was a total wreck and I had to have it cleaned up and repaired.

I still live in that house, although it has been added onto, and my wife and children have fond memories of our lives there. Friends and relatives have spent nights with us but there have never been renters again.