My neighbor was 78 and lived alone.<\/p>\n
She was one of the kindest, quietest women I’d ever met.<\/p>\n
She always waved when I passed her house.<\/p>\n
Sometimes she’d leave fresh cookies on my doorstep.<\/p>\n
So I started getting worried when a much younger man began visiting her regularly.<\/p>\n
At first, I thought nothing of it.<\/p>\n
Maybe he was a relative.<\/p>\n
Maybe he was helping her around the house.<\/p>\n
But then I started hearing screaming.<\/p>\n
Not ordinary shouting.<\/p>\n
Loud, terrified screams.<\/p>\n
And they always happened whenever the young man was there.<\/p>\n
I couldn’t ignore it anymore.<\/p>\n
One afternoon, I finally walked over and knocked on her door.<\/p>\n
The screaming stopped instantly.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Then the door opened just a few inches.<\/p>\n
I looked inside.<\/p>\n
And froze.<\/p>\n
My elderly neighbor was standing there wearing something completely unexpected.<\/p>\n
She was dressed in a full-body boxing outfit<\/strong>, complete with gloves and protective headgear.<\/p>\n She looked terrified.<\/p>\n She grabbed my arm and whispered,<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to leave\u2026 before he comes back.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n My heart started racing.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n She looked over her shoulder.<\/p>\n Then whispered,<\/p>\n \u201cHe’s my trainer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour trainer?\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been taking boxing lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cBut why were you screaming?\u201d<\/p>\n She lowered her voice.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause he’s been teaching me how to yell when I get hit.\u201d<\/p>\n I was even more confused.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n She suddenly smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I’m competing in a charity boxing match next month.\u201d<\/p>\n I blinked.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’re 78!\u201d<\/p>\n She grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n Then the young man walked back through the front door.<\/p>\n He was carrying two heavy bags of groceries.<\/p>\n \u201cReady for round five?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n My neighbor raised her gloves.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou scared ten years off my life!\u201d<\/p>\n She laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cGood. That means my acting is improving.\u201d<\/p>\n The young man explained that he was her personal trainer and had been helping her prepare for a charity event that raised money for senior community centers.<\/p>\n The screaming I’d heard?<\/p>\n It was her practicing dramatic fight reactions.<\/p>\n She wasn’t being attacked.<\/p>\n She was learning how to put on a show.<\/p>\n A month later, hundreds of people gathered at the charity event.<\/p>\n And there she was.<\/p>\n Seventy-eight years old.<\/p>\n Standing in the ring.<\/p>\n She won her match after three rounds.<\/p>\n When she came back home, I was waiting outside.<\/p>\n I smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, how does it feel to be a boxing champion?\u201d<\/p>\n She laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cWonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n Then she raised one glove and said,<\/p>\n \u201cAnd next time you hear me screaming, mind your own business!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cDeal.\u201d<\/p>\n She paused.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if I scream twice\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n She winked.<\/p>\n \u201cCall the police.\u201d<\/strong> \ud83d\ude02\ud83e\udd4a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My neighbor was 78 and lived alone. She was one of the kindest, quietest women I’d ever met. She always waved when I passed her house. Sometimes she’d leave fresh … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1969,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968\/revisions\/1969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}