Not very professional

Not very professional 

Two days ago (Monday), I called home.
Kiki answered the phone.

Me: Have you done your homework?
Kiki: Yes
Me: Violin?
Kiki: You know what, Mama?
Me: Done your violin?
Kiki: Mama, you know what happened?
Me: What.
Kiki: Grandpa ate alllllllll the oranges you've bought, there are only four left!
Me: What!???   He ate all 16 oranges?! I mean I had 16 oranges on the tray! Four's left?!!!
Kiki: Yes! And he finished all the Chinese New Year cookies! The white ones and the spicy ones!
Me: What!!!!
Me: Did you tell Papa?
Kiki: Ya.
Me: What did he say?
Kiki: He's not very professional lah.
Me: ?????????    -_-"
Me: What do you mean by "he's not very professional"?  （I think she 用词不当 lah)
Kiki: He didn't say much, he just said don't put stuff on the dining table.

I don't know how that constitutes to "unprofessional" response, maybe she was expecting the Papa to react shocked like I did.

***

Two days after that Monday's incident, I got home at night and the Papa asked if anything was amiss. 

I said not that I know of, no. He told me his brother received a phone call from the police inquiring if their father had cut away the leaves of a neighbour's plant. Of course my brother-in-law was unable to verify because he doesn't live here and he doesn't know. Even we live here we also do not know. The thing is, our neighbour called the police and complained about her plant being vandalized. I had no knowledge that our neighbour had spoken with my helper because my helper didn't think it was Grandpa hence she it didn't cross her mind to inform me about the query from our neighbour. According to my helper, our neighbour told her about the vandalized plant and hinted that my Father-in-law was the culprit. My helper asked if my neighbour saw the act herself. According to my helper, she wasn't challenging my neighbour, what she meant was to clarify if she's saying that because she saw it or she's just saying that as a presumption. Since our neighbour replied that she hasn't witness the act, the conclusion our neighbour made was that she will report it to the police. And since it was not conclusive, my helper didn't think she has to tell me. So anyway, our neighbour and us are on good terms. They ask us to baby-sit their plants every time they go on holidays. To bring in the newspapers from their door (so as not to appear the house as vacant) and mainly to water their plants. We do that for them because it is no big deal, we will do that for any neighbour nearby. So this episode is really puzzling. Had they really think that it was my father-in-law who cut their plant, they should have asked us and not my helper. Anyway, I can't say for sure it wasn't Grandpa because I do know that his dementia state of mind has the tendency to dismantle things. However, he had never destroyed plants so I do not know if it was him or not. Plus, it is wrong to accuse a person just because he fits the profile. Either way, honestly, with compassion for our neighbour, I do wish that it was my father-in-law so that our neighbour has some form of closure rather than live with the thought that someone was trying to get them. (really, I am a bigger person, I don't need anyone to attest this) It is better to know that the act was from an unsound mind rather than an evil mind, right? Anyway, I've told Bren to bring his dad to the doctors to get certified for his mental condition. That's the only way we might be able to explain his behaviour albeit whether we get the understanding or not. Our society is aging and we do see more of elderly acting out of character but we cannot expect others or our neighbours to understand that because unless they have a family member or relative like that, they might not have the compassion for it. Hope our neighbour could find peace of mind over her plant.