It was our neighbor, Mr. Daniels, the male half of the elderly couple next door. My mouth dropped open in shock as I saw his face appearing a few feet back of the fence directly behind mom. He was climbing a ladder, slowly, and I could see he had some clippers in his hands that, apparently, he was going to use to lop off some unruly branches from a small tree next to the ladder. I had been so busy watching my mom I hadn't even noticed the ladder being set in place, or heard Mr. Daniels's movements. I could tell that he hadn't seen mom yet, but that he...