My Blind Son, the Peeping Tom?!

One week after moving into my new home, my neighbor, Penny Halpern, suddenly knocks on my door and claims that my son, Benedict Geller, has been spying on her daughter, Monica Ritter, when the latter is bathing.

"I saw everything with my own eyes! Every day, he'd cling to the windowsill and spy on me when I'm bathing! He even took pictures of me with a camera!

"I'm so scared! Who knows what he's doing with those pictures? That boy really is disgusting!"

Penny and Monica threaten me to call the police on Benedict if I don't pay them soon. Feeling rather puzzled, I just kick them out of my apartment.

Unexpectedly, Penny summons all the neighbors in the residential area over to my place the next day. They all gather outside my door and begin insulting us at the top of their lungs.

"Hey, pervert! Get out here and apologize to the victim!"

"Take that perverted son of yours and leave this place! We want peace to be returned to our neighborhood!"

When I tune the neighbors out, they begin smashing everything they can see at my front door.

So, I can only call the police. When the police arrive, I bring Benedict out of the apartment before taking his sunglasses off.

"Officer, I'd like to ask just how can my son spy on others, in this case?"

Someone was banging on my front door early in the morning.

"Mia! Tell that peeping Tom son of yours to come out and apologize to my daughter right now! I can't imagine what horrors he'll pull if he's already secretly watching my daughter while she's in the shower at such a young age!"

I frowned and looked out the window. As expected, my neighbor, Penny Halpern, was standing at my front doorstep once again with her daughter, Monica Ritter.

We'd only just moved in a week ago, but Penny had banged on my front door fiendishly late last night and accused my son, Benedict Geller, of peeping at Monica in the shower from his window.

I raised Benedict myself. I knew he'd never do something like this, but Monica's red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes suggested otherwise.

"I saw him staring at me, and he even snapped pictures of me with his camera! I thought I'd been mistaken at first, then I found out he did this every day! It's creeping me out!" she wailed.

Penny comforted Monica, then turned to me and demanded compensation. "Tell your son to apologize to Monica right now, and pay me 100 thousand dollars as a settlement. If not, we'll let the cops take over. This will be a permanent stain in your son's life!"

100 thousand dollars? I snorted, then promptly chased Penny and Monica out of my house and closed the door.

I didn't think they'd turn up again that day, and this time, they'd brought back-up. I recognized them at first glance as the other neighbors.

They swarmed my front door, blocking the entryway.

"Protecting her kid even after he's messed up. Talk about shameless!"

"If he's peeping at this age, who's to say he won't set fires and commit murder when he grows up?"

"Take your pervert of a son and get the hell out of this neighborhood, lady! We want some peace and safety around here."

I wished I could ignore them, but to my bewilderment, they began to pound on my door. They even smashed the ornaments and destroyed the flowers I kept by the door!

I'd pruned and tended to those flowers for five whole years. It took me a lot of work to move them here from my last house.

Furious, I quickly called the police, then opened the door. "I've already called the cops and recorded your vandalism. I hope you're ready to pay damages after this!"

My appearance only fanned the flames of their rage. "You dare to make us pay after you knowingly protected a peeping Tom?

"Tell your son to come out and apologize right now, then get the hell out of our neighborhood! You're not welcome here!"

I didn't shrink back and instead leveled an angry finger at Penny and Monica. "My son would never peep at anyone! They're lying!"

Monica broke down in tears when she heard this. "Mrs. Geller, all I want is an apology! Why are you being so hard on us? I'm the victim here, yet you'll have me prove my innocence?"

She cried harder as she spoke, and Penny immediately pulled her into her arms. "My poor daughter. It's terrible that she's forced to deal with such an unreasonable family after she was peeped at and secretly photographed!

"We don't even know where those photos were leaked! She's only 14. How will she cope if this leaves her traumatized for life?"

The neighbors grew even more righteous in their anger when they saw Penny's and Monica's pitiful act, turning on me. "Quit pointing fingers, lady! Monica grew up in our area. She'd never lie!"

"Get your son to apologize! If not, we'll barge in and grab him ourselves!"

Some of them were already jostling me. I reached for the broomstick I'd readied in advance and struck the doorframe, the loud thud cutting above the noise.

"Everything requires proof. You claim my son is a peeping Tom, so prove it. Until then, none of you is entering my house today!"

Chaprer 2

Stunned by my aggressive stance, the neighbors fell silent.

But that lasted only for a moment, for Monica burst into tears. "The camera is proof! The man was taking photos of me with his camera! My photos must be inside!"

Penny took her daughter's side right away. "Exactly! There must be a camera in your son's room. Go on, I dare you to take it out and let us have a look!"

"There's not a single camera in my house."

I frowned. Benedict couldn't possibly use a camera, and I wasn't a photography lover. We never bought a camera.

"Well, I won't believe you unless you let us in and search your house!"

They had already destroyed my flowers by the front door. I would be a fool to let them into the house and cause more damage.

"No. You're not the cops and have no authority to do this." I raised the broomstick, refusing to let them through.

As we stood off against one another, Monica suddenly screamed, "Mom! Someone put my photos up on the internet!"

Penny quickly grabbed Monica's phone, then angrily showed me the screen. "See for yourself! Judging by the angle, the photo was taken from your house!"

The photo was, indeed, of a nude body in the shower.

At first glance, the angle was very similar to the one outside Benedict's window. But after scanning the photo, I shook my head and denied it. "No, my son couldn't have taken that photo."

"Why are you still in denial?" Penny took the phone back, raising her voice. "My daughter's naked photos are on the internet, and you're still defending him? Monica's whole life will be ruined if these photos start to spread!

"If you're defending your son now, he'll grow up and commit bigger crimes! You're enabling him!"

Tears began to roll down Penny's face as she spoke, looking at the neighbors as if this were an interactive stage play. She sobbed, "I feel so useless as a mother! All I want is an apology after finding out that my daughter's privacy has been violated! I just want to do right by her, and I've failed at that…"

At the sight of this, the neighbors' sense of justice rose to the surface as they fixed me with disgusted, furious looks. One of them vowed, "We'll drag that punk out by his ear and make him remove those photos and apologize today!"

Before he finished speaking, he charged toward me, reaching for the broomstick in my hand. I gripped it stubbornly, refusing to let go, but I was no match for him. With a hard shove, he sent me staggering backward.

The rest of them pounced on me the next second. Someone was pulling my arm, and others were jostling my back. It was one against many, and it didn't take long for them to fell me. The back of my head hit the edge of the shoe cabinet, the pain sharp and surprising.

"Go in and find that brat!"

They stormed into my house like a pack of feral, rabid beasts. The moment they stepped past the threshold, they made a beeline for Benedict's room.

But Benedict wasn't home. I'd dropped him off at my parents' place after Dad said he wanted to see Benedict yesterday.

When the neighbors didn't see Benedict, they began to ransack the drawers and cabinets in his room in a frantic search for proof that he was peeping at Monica.

"I told you, we don't have a camera at home! Stop rummaging!" I yelled, wanting to rush forward to stop them. However, I was held firmly in place by a few of the neighbors.

At that moment, Penny suddenly held up a black digital camera and shouted, "I found it! This is the proof she wanted!"