In all small towns, everybody knows everybody else, and some like to know a little too much about everybody else’s business.
Mildred, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the church’s morals, was one of those that kept sticking her nose into other people’s business.
Several members did not approve of her extra-curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.
She made a mistake, however, when she accused Frank, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon. She emphatically told Frank (and several others) that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing!
Frank, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn’t explain, defend, or deny. He simply said nothing..
Late that evening, Frank quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred’s house, walked home… and left it there all night.