'Dog Woman' by Claire Collison

You say you need boundaries. That, you say, is your problem: you have none. I, though, have excellent boundaries, you say. The way I dealt with the dog woman, for example. The way I called her over as she returned from her walk, as the sunrise drained out of the sky, and she dragged her two dogs behind her, her winter coat pulled over her pink pyjamas. The way I told her not to secrete any more of her cat food under my stairs. Desist, I said, and she nodded and said, OK. That, you say. That demonstrates excellent boundaries.