{"id":648122,"date":"2026-03-11T14:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/648122\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:01:19","slug":"my-wife-robbed-the-neighbors-for-the-sake-of-her-book-club-its-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/648122\/","title":{"rendered":"My wife robbed the neighbors for the sake of her book club. It’s about to get a whole lot worse."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Prudence is Slate\u2019s advice column.\u00a0Submit questions here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dear Prudence,<\/strong><\/p>\n

My wife has needlessly created an uproar with our neighbors across the street. Our neighbors have two orange trees in their front yard, and this is the time of year when the oranges are ripe. Well, my wife decided to take nearly all of the neighbors\u2019 oranges to make marmalade for her book club, and now the neighbors are furious.<\/p>\n

She claims she\u2019s in the right for taking the oranges because \u201cthere were more than they could use anyway.\u201d I recently overheard her talking to a friend on the phone, and she\u2019s making plans to swipe the remaining oranges! I can\u2019t watch her every minute, and I\u2019m concerned the neighbors may take legal action if she steals the last of their oranges. I confronted her and made her promise to leave them alone. She said she would, but I don\u2019t believe for a moment she will. What\u2019s the answer?<\/p>\n

\u2014Citrus Soured<\/p>\n

Dear Citrus Soured,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is your wife OK? Does she have a criminal history? I\u2019m kidding, sort of. But whenever I hear about behavior like this (which, you\u2019re right, is totally unacceptable), it feels important to know whether it just came out of the blue or is part of a pattern. The only data I have to go on is that she\u2019s in a book club, which tells me she has historically been a person who socializes normally and doesn\u2019t rob everyone she meets. So if her behavior is new, I\u2019m actually a bit concerned\u2014not just about tensions with your neighbors, but also about what\u2019s going on with her.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n <\/p>\n

    My Friend Helped Me Get Work When I Needed It. I Hate What I\u2019m About to Do to Him.
    \n <\/a>\n <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It would be one thing if she\u2019d just plucked a few pieces of fruit off a nearby tree, but to go all the way into her neighbor\u2019s yard and take almost all the oranges and plan to do it again, even after knowing about the neighbor\u2019s fury, makes me think she may be dealing with one of the many things that can happen to a person\u2019s brain that I\u2019m not qualified to weigh in on. So put the produce aside for a second and think about whether she\u2019s been behaving erratically in other areas of her life and whether there\u2019s any way you might be able to chat with her doctor or therapist (or encourage her to do so) about it.<\/p>\n

    Until then, for the sake of neighborhood peace and avoiding an arrest, it wouldn\u2019t stretch the truth too much if you said to your neighbors, \u201cI really want to apologize for my wife\u2019s actions. She is exhibiting some strange behaviors and is not herself at the moment, and I ask for your patience as we figure things out. She\u2019s assured me that she won\u2019t be returning to take any more oranges, and I\u2019ll try to make sure this is the case. But if anything happens, please call me before calling the authorities, and I will try to make it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Classic Prudie<\/p>\n

    My partner and I, who are in a gay relationship, are close friends with a lesbian couple. \u201cMary\u201d and \u201cJean\u201d desperately want a baby, and after some discussion my partner decided to donate his sperm. We have no interest in being parents but are happy to be uncles. Unfortunately Mary experienced a significant illness and Jane got laid off from work, and now they are worried they can\u2019t afford in vitro fertilization\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

    Get the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Prudence is Slate\u2019s advice column.\u00a0Submit questions here. Dear Prudence, My wife has needlessly created an uproar with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":648123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[600,29396,210,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-648122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-advice","tag-dear-prudence","tag-health","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116210911915143996","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}