A concerned neighbor decided to act after she noticed her wealthy old neighbor looking through trash bins around their street for food to eat.
One day, Linda found it strange that her wealthy old neighbor Betty was at the supermarket buying cat food. She knew that the old lady didn’t have a cat at home, so it was a strange sight to see.
What surprised Linda, even more, was that instead of buying her goods with a credit card like she always did, Betty took coins out of her pocket to pay for the canned cat food.
Linda decided not to bother Betty that day, thinking she must now have a cat at home for which she needed to buy food. After all, her daughter, who was in her thirties, moved in about a week ago.
However, Linda decided to act after she realized a series of strange things started happening at Betty’s house. Her daughter would often bring men into her mother’s home, and they’d smoke cigarettes and leave empty beer cans outside in the front yard.
To make matters worse, even in the dead of night, Betty’s daughter and her visitors would be blasting loud music, which likely made it impossible for Linda to sleep peacefully.
One day, Linda saw Betty quietly sneak out of the house through the side door. She walked around, looking through her neighbors’ trash cans for food. It must be for the cat, Linda thought to herself.
However, what happened next shocked her. When Betty found a box of takeout leftover in a trash can, she proceeded to smell it. When she confirmed it was safe to eat, she decided to take a bite.
“Oh my god, that’s awful,” Linda said as she watched in horror.
“What’s wrong, honey?” her husband Peter asked.
“Look. Grandma Betty is eating food out of the trash! How could that be? She’s had a successful career and had enough saved up for retirement. Something strange is going on. What should we do?” Linda replied back, concerned about her long-time neighbor.
“Why don’t you go check on her? You haven’t spoken to her in a while anyway,” Peter suggested.
With that, Linda decided to bake a cake which she’d bring over to Betty. Once it was done baking, she placed it in a box and walked over.
When she knocked on the door, it was Betty who answered. “Hi, Grandma Betty. How have you been?” Linda asked, trying her best to smile as if she didn’t know something was up.
“I’m… I’m okay, sweetheart. How are you, Linda?” she asked weakly.
“I’m alright, Grandma Betty. I thought I haven’t checked up on you in a while, so I baked you a cake. Is it just you at home?” Linda proceeded to ask, looking behind Betty.
At that question, Betty quietly burst into tears. “Let’s talk outside,” she told Linda.
“My daughter Anna, she’s asleep upstairs. She’s taken all of my ATM cards and barely gives me anything for food. At the grocery, no decent meal cost three dollars. That’s how much she gave me, so I bought cat food just to fill my stomach. It’s been so hard,” she sobbed.
“What? That’s horrible! Why didn’t you come asking for help?” Linda asked Betty, holding her hand in the process.
“She has been bringing these big men in. She said if I even attempted to tell anyone, I’d be dead. But… I just can’t take it anymore. I am so hungry, and I haven’t felt this weak in a while,” Betty explained.
With that, Linda quickly brought Betty over to her house before Anna woke up. Linda called the police and had Betty’s daughter arrested.
When the police came, they caught Anna sleeping in her mother’s bedroom with empty bottles of alcohol all around her. She had also kept her mother’s ATM cards in her bag, which the police seized.
Anna called out for her mom as the police took her away, claiming she had willingly given the ATM cards to her. “She’s my mother! Bring her to me this instant!” she screamed as she was being handcuffed. “She gave me all her money. It’s all mine!”
However, nothing could save Anna from being arrested at the time. Betty had already given her testimony, claiming her daughter forced her to live on just three dollars a day, forcing her to eat cat food and rummaging for scraps in her neighbors’ trash bins.
When the police finally took her away, Betty couldn’t help but cry again. “It hurts because I never thought my relationship with my daughter would ever turn sour. However, through the years, she only ever showed up when she needed money,” she started to explain.
“I thought it’d be okay if I kept giving her because, well, I love her and she’s my daughter. However, this time, I realized she thought it’d be easier to take my entire savings once and for all as I am now old and a lot weaker than before. It hurts she’d betray me like this,” Betty sighed.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Grandma Betty. I do want you to know that you’ll always have a family with us. Right next door. Come on over any time,” Linda said, giving her a tight hug.
Linda vowed to make sure her kind neighbor had everything she needed in order to start again. She had the whole house cleaned and made sure no trace of Anna remained and made sure Betty never felt lonely.
Every weekend, they would cook and eat meals together with Linda, her husband Peter, and their children. Her children grew to love Betty like their own grandmother, and Linda and Betty became very good friends.
Although Betty lost touch with her daughter forever, she gained a family in her kind and generous neighbors that stood by her until the end of her life. She also made sure to let go of all the bad feelings she had towards her daughter and forgave her even though they never saw each other again.
What can we learn from this story?
Family doesn’t always have to be blood relatives. Betty felt more love from Linda and her family than from her own daughter Anna. In the end, she lived the rest of her life happily with her loving neighbors who took care of her and kept her company.
Forgiveness helps you move on to better things. Betty suffered at the hands of her own daughter, but instead of having a heavy heart, she learned to slowly forgive her and wish her the best despite them not being in touch anymore.
