My Brother in Law Charged Me 40 to Use My Late Husbands Own Log Splitter So I Paid Him and Let the Whole Road See the Receipt

After Jim’s death, Becky Thorson’s brother-in-law, Dale, took his log splitter for “safekeeping,” then charged her to borrow it. Becky and her teenage son used their afternoon to prepare firewood, giving most of it to three widows Jim had helped every autumn. Then Becky pinned Dale’s signed receipt beside her offer of free wood at the feed store. Neighbors noticed. But it took his former teacher, Mrs. Hartmann, to make Dale explain himself.Jim had owed Dale six hundred dollars for a truck repair. Too proud to ask Becky, Dale had tried collecting through rental fees. His grief and embarrassment explained the cruelty without excusing it. Becky settled the debt with Jim’s saved firewood money; Dale refunded her payment and returned the splitter. Then he began showing up to help. Together, they supplied Becky’s winter wood and helped other households. Beside Jim’s old delivery list, she added: “Dale brings the saw.”