My Father’s Fanatical Feud With the Bullies Next Door Became an All-Out War

When I was seven years old, my father started sleeping on the sofa with a rifle.

We lived in a small Oregon town with a population of only a few thousand. Nestled on a gravel-lined, dead-end street, my childhood home was an idyllic setting to raise a family. To the east, a snow-capped Mt. Hood jutted from the tree-lined horizon. To the west, acres of cow pastures rolled into the distant hills. Everyone on our tiny street knew everyone else, and everyone knew our next-door neighbors hated us.

Lined up in neat rows along our backyard was a young orchard: spindly trees still too weak to bear fruit, propped up by wooden stakes and thick twine. Looping through the branches and woven between the trees was a series of tripwires adorned with silver Christmas bells. My father told me he put them up to keep the deer from eating our apples. That also explained the rifle, I thought. My dad wanted to protect us.

***

“We want you to know this is a safe space.”

The man wore a dark suit — I remember thinking he wasn’t dressed like any cop I’d seen on TV.

I stared at the floor — black-and-white tiles with little gold flecks sparkling under the fluorescent lights. It looked like someone had spilled fairy…