I’d expected him to laugh and then confirm that they’d come, however, he’d simply scratched his head and scampered off back into the house.
Anyway, I’d put all of that drama out of my mind, and welcomed all of my friends and family with a smile on my face and a glass of wine. Some had even thought to bring housewarming gifts, which were more than welcome, and gradually, once the BBQ was fired up, everyone settled into having a merry old time.
Things were working out exactly as I’d hoped, and my friend groups were mixing and getting to know each other. Most were impressed with the property, and while enjoying a drink, glanced around the neighbouring plots and nodded approval at the whole feel of the community. Some even enquired as whether there were other dwellings still available for purchase. I even took them on a walking tour to view the pool and gym, and everyone was in awe of the beautiful home I’d bought.
However, there was a slight blip once we’d returned and the party had commenced. Carol appeared at the fence and spat some outrageous accusations at a few of my guests. I walked over and got involved when a few of my friends complained about the ‘miserable witch’ and how she was ‘dampening the mood’.
“What is it?” I asked with impatience, and Carol’s beady eyes honed in on me.
“What are you doing?” she raged. “I told you that you couldn’t do this!”
“Who made you the queen of the town,” one of my friends quipped, and a barrage of laughs were directed in Carol’s direction.
My one friend, Brad, who was a bit of a clown, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out, “Where’s Dorothy when you need her? The Wicked Witch of the East is still alive and well.”
Everyone burst into laughter, however, Carol gurned and fumed, before stamping her foot. “Put out that fire immediately,” she said. “Our there are going to be serious consequences.”
I rolled my eyes, and directed my friends away from her. “Ignore her,” I said, while remembering the words of the pleasant woman next door. “She’s all bark and no bite.”
Carol was still shrieking while we paid her no mind, instead enjoying the food, drinks and music, and eventually she took the hint and buggered off. I thought that was the end of the matter and we could actually focus on having a good time, however, that was until a cop car rolled up. Immediately, I noticed many looks of concern amongst my guests’ faces.
“Jodie Atkinson?” the one officer asked as he got out of the car.
“Yes?” I said, while breaking away from the group and nearing the fence. I wasn’t used to dealing with the law, so I was already nervous; my voice taking on an audible tremor. “Is there a problem?”
The officer let out a long, breathy sigh before holding up a piece of paper. “We’ve received a complaint for a noise violation and an environmental pollution violation”–he squinted at the paper in his hand–“due to some agreement you’ve signed.” He looked back towards his partner before adding, “Is this not a civil matter? Why did they call us out?”
The partner rolled his eyes. “You know why.”
The noise wasn’t that bad and the smoke from the BBQ had already died off. “Really?” I asked in surprise. “Who made the complaint?” I already knew the answer, but some part of me still couldn’t quite believe that she’d escalate things to this petty level.
“I’m not at liberty to share that information.”
“It’s that Carol, isn’t it?” I asked with a snort, before turning to my guests and rolling my eyes. “It’s that Karen from earlier. She’s made a complaint.”
A work colleague began shaking his glass of wine around. “That old shrew by the fence that wouldn’t know fun if it hit her in the face.”
A couple more jokes were cracked about how annoying Karens could be. The partner still in the cop car even sniggered as someone likened Carol to a troll with a stick up their ass.
The officer near me shook his head, clearly being tired of the whole thing. “Could you just turn the music down slightly, and maybe cool the coals off?” He scanned the yard a final time. “I can see you’re just good people having a fun time, but she’s not going to stop until we’ve responded.” He leant over the fence, slightly, before beckoning me closer with his finger. Once I was near, he whispered, “This has come from higher up, so do with that information what you will.”
I swallowed nervously at hearing that. “Okay, I’ll turn the music down.” I immediately cranked the Bluetooth speaker volume down on my phone, much to the gasps and groans of my guests.
The cops wished us well, and left us to it, however, the party became muted after that, the fun and energy completely sapped. At one point, I even swore I noticed a figure in the distance, a reflection of binoculars pointed in our direction. However, before I could investigate, I was distracted by one of my cousins, and upon turning back, the figure had disappeared. I had planned for the party to go into the late evening, but as the atmosphere died, most people had left by eight. I’d enjoyed having those close to me celebrate my new home, however, the police arriving had really put a dampener on things and I realised that our community Karen was going to be a real headache. I mean, I’d even invited her that day she’d thrown a tantrum, and instead of coming and having fun, she’d obliterated my event with her meddling.
I brushed off the party failure, and got back into the swing of things at work. I’d been working as a marketing specialist for a few years now, and the salary was decent and the work environment a lot of fun. The bills had been racking up since the new move, and obviously, I’d budgeted for this and it had been expected. My plan was to leave some of the bigger purchases to a bit later, now that I had most of the essentials on site. Thankfully, my mom had covered a lot of the initial furniture, and if I was a frugal in a few areas, then making the mortgage payments were a breeze, as well as the small facility fee that was included every month. I’d jumped at this as it meant we got access to shared facilities in the community, for instance a gym and pool. There was also the added benefit of the streets being kept clean as well as security at the front gate so that no one could just waltz in. It was a price worth paying as far as I was concerned and as long as I didn’t go crazy, buying furniture beyond my budget, I could comfortably settle into my home. The booze for the party had been a one-off extravagance, but I was prepared to be sensible from here on out.
A few days later, I came home from work, and having checked the mail, I filtered through the usual bills before seeing a handwritten envelope. Unlike the other letters, there was no postage fee stamped on, so it had clearly been hand-delivered. I tore it open, then my jaw dropped as I read the contents. I was being fined for the party I’d held, by none other than Carol! As president of the Homeowner Association, she’d deemed my gathering to be anti-social, and as I’d caused a nuisance to my neighbours, and a community as a whole, I was being charged with a punitive financial penalty of $200 for the noise pollution and a further $200 for the environmental pollution. I had a week to pay, unless I removed the BBQ from my property and provided a written apology for my actions. If I didn’t comply, then late fees would be added to the fine, and eventually court proceedings would commence to recover what was owed.
I was distraught. The BBQ had cost me close to $300 as it was and I’d only used it once and was now being ordered to get rid. The written apology was just ridiculously childish and petty, I mean, we weren’t in school, were we? There was even a police report included as evidence as well as a victim impact statement from an anonymous source, which had to have been from Carol herself, claiming they’d had to attend a clinic due to smoke inhalation. That was so farfetched that it belonged in a comic strip, but there was a freakin’ medical attendance record to go along with it.
I almost scrunched up the letter right there and then while still stood in my driveway. Who the hell did this woman think she was? As if she could just dish out fines as she pleased. There was no way I could afford that with all of the recent expenditure of moving in. I mean, it wasn’t enough to put me in debt or anything, but I had an emergency fund which such an amount was surely going to eat into. She was threatening to dent my finances if I didn’t do as she pleased and get rid of my BBQ? I mean, I could just give it to someone else, but the principle of it all was really grating at me.
Joe from next door was just returning from work too, when he shouted over. “You alright, Jodie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I turned to him, still in shock, and held the letter up. “She’s issued me for a fine for the party.”
“Oh God,” he said. “That sounds familiar.”
“She can’t do this, surely?” I read over the document multiple times and it all seemed so official. “Can she?” I looked up horrified, completely shell-shocked that this was actually happening.
“I’d speak to a lawyer,” he said. “Because it’s not going to end here. That woman is as relentless as she is annoying. She fined us once for having my mother-in-law stay over without signing some bleeding notification.”
I screwed my face up; just let her try the same shit if my mother came to stay. “You didn’t pay it, right?”
“Well, no.” He looked off to the side in thought. “But she had all these legal documents about how we were causing a hazard by not declaring the correct amount of people in attendance. Even got the fire marshal involved stating how my mother-in-law would have been left to die in an emergency because there was no record she was here. All over the top, but legally, we couldn’t fight her on it.”
“That sounds ridiculous.” I looked at the letter again. “Almost as ridiculous as this.”
“The wife smoothed it over. Why do you think I had to change that bleeding tyre?” He shrugged. “Maybe go speak to her? She’s probably just flexing her muscles because you’re new around here?”
Will there a part 2?