At my fence, she’d attacked my property rights.
In the Hendersons’ kitchen, I saw how she attacked people’s peace.
And she had managed to turn my lawsuit into another tool for frightening them.
The Garcias told a similar story.
Roberto and Elena had two children, a comfortable family home, and a mailbox post that apparently offended the aesthetic sensibilities of the Cedarwood Ridge board.
Roberto showed me the paint.
“Beige,” he said.
I looked at the post.
“Looks beige.”
“That’s what I said.”
He held up the violation notice.
“Margaret said it didn’t match the approved shade.”
“How far off was it?”
He gave me an incredulous look.
“Enough for her to charge me two hundred dollars.”
Elena stood beside him.
“We asked for a copy of the original color approval. They sent us another warning.”
“Did you pay?”
“No,” Roberto said. “Not at first. Then they threatened collections.”
He looked out toward the street.
“Two hundred dollars isn’t going to destroy us. That’s not the point.”
“What is?”
He turned back.
“It’s that she gets to humiliate us over something this stupid, and we’re expected to thank her for maintaining standards.”
Elena shook her head.
“Now she’s doing the same thing with the road.”
“How so?”
“She told everyone that if they don’t support her lawsuit, they’ll have nobody to blame when you lock us out.”
Roberto folded his arms.
“I asked why she hadn’t talked to you before filing.”
“What did she say?”
“That you were unreasonable.”
I gave a short laugh.
“She must know me better than I know myself.”
Elena didn’t smile.
“She wants people to hate you. That way nobody asks why the HOA is spending money on a lawsuit.”
I looked down the street.
Every house seemed perfectly ordinary.
Lawns.
Driveways.
Mailboxes.
People living their lives.
The ugliness wasn’t in the neighborhood.
It was in the way authority had been exercised over it.
By the time the hearing was three weeks away, Margaret had convinced herself she was winning.
At a community meeting, according to Carl, she announced that the amended complaint had strengthened the HOA’s position.
She told residents their historical rights would soon be permanently confirmed.
