The accelerometer logged nineteen miles per hour in a reverse manoeuvre across a residential curb. That number was the whole case. Nineteen miles per hour is not a misjudgement. It is a person who has never once looked behind her because she has never expected anything to be in her way. Her insurer read the data, the trail footage, and the eleven violation notices she filed against me on the same mornings, and they declined the claim outright and reported the pattern.

The workers she sent to remove the bin were a landscaping crew who had been told it was HOA-owned property. They stopped the moment my neighbour Adaeze came out and told them otherwise, and their foreman gave a written statement that afternoon because he was furious at having been used.

The board meeting was in November. I brought nothing but a folder and I did not raise my voice. Fourteen households had received violations from Darlene in eighteen months, and eleven of them had simply paid rather than argue.