“Would you stop harassing me,” she suddenly said, before reaching for her phone. “Unless you’re here to settle what you owe, then I have no interest in interacting with you.”
“I’m not harassing you,” I shot back defensively, completely flabbergasted at the suggestion. “I’m just talking to you.”
“Everyone,” she said randomly, before turning her phone towards my direction. “Look at this. I’m trying to enjoy my workout in peace, and one of the women in my gated community is harassing me.” She shunted the elliptical steps slightly, and when they refused to move against my fingers clutching the handle, she let out an over-the-top screech. “See, she’s stopping me from working out and I can’t even get down from the machine.” Her voice took on a gasp-like horror. “I feel threatened for my life.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I said, while looking around embarrassed and fearful that someone else might have overheard her yelling. “I’m not threatening you. You’re the one that was threatening me!”
She lifted the camera and focused on the door behind me. “She’s positioned herself so I can’t escape. She’s blocked my exit and is threatening my life.”
I instinctively released my hand from the elliptical and stepped away. “What is happening here? What are you doing?”
“She’s been here for an hour berating me, threatening me and all because I had no choice other than to send her a letter about a violation she committed. She’s escalated to violence and I’m in fear of my life.”
I continued to back away, shocked into silence at the performance she was putting on. “I…errr…what?”
Carol must have flipped the camera on her phone, because she was suddenly talking into it. “Someone send help. You think you’re living in a safe community and you get people like this harassing you. This is why no one wants to be the president of the Homeowner Association, because people embark on personal vendettas.”
“I’m going,” I said desperately. “I’m leaving you alone, okay?” I backed out of the gymnasium a mixture of confusion and panic. Once the door had swung shut behind me, I paused and looked through the window, while Carol was still animatedly talking into her phone.
She must have noticed me, because once again the camera was turned towards my direction. “She has me trapped,” she screeched, in an elaborate, dramatic shriek. “She’s totally unreasonable.” With that, she suddenly put the phone back down, before smiling and waving at me sarcastically.
My lips were quivering as I slinked back to my home; feeling more confused than anything.
I kept a low profile after that encounter, avoiding all of the communal areas of the facility and staying inside my home. I only left when I had to go to work, thankfully, at such an early hour that I never saw anyone else. I’d work late into the evening too, and wouldn’t come home till it was after sunset and I wouldn’t be bothered. It was a real bummer, as I enjoyed the amenities of the facility, but Carol had made me feel completely unwelcome.
The last thing I wanted as a reputation was to be a pariah that harassed middle-aged women. I didn’t see Carol through the rest of the week, and I’d hoped, after scaring me with her dramatics, that an end to everything was in sight. After all, she’d got her way, hadn’t she? I’d removed the stupid BBQ from my garden, just like she’d wanted. She’d successfully dictated to me that my garden had to remain plain while she was apparently allowed to make hers as extravagant as she liked.
My peace all came to an end though, when by the next Sunday, I’d received another letter in my mailbox. This time, it had been co-signed by a solicitor, who was warning that if the fine wasn’t settled by the next week, then it was going to be followed up through the courts and a debt collection agency would recover it from there. I was informed that the fine, along with late fees, now totalled $600. It may have been extravagant, it may have been complete bullshit. Whatever it was, it was enough, after a panicked phone call to my friend, to spook me into writing a cheque for the full amount and heading straight over to Carol’s residence. I was going to have to dip into my emergency fund, but I couldn’t afford subsequent costs from the case being heard at a court. It was clear that this problem wasn’t going to go away like I’d hoped, and Carol was becoming a splinter in my mind.
Once I arrived at Carol’s, I saw that she was relaxing in her yard on one of those beach recliners next to the pond. She was wearing a rather revealing one-piece swimsuit, which seemed totally inappropriate for a gated community. I mean, anyone could have been walking past her yard with their kid and they’d be greeted by this middle-aged woman revealing more of her pasty body than needed to be shared. It also seemed completely hypocritical that she continually harped on about causing a public nuisance and indecency, when she was the one spread out on a recliner in half-revealing clothing. She was sipping some kind of pink drink while reading from a book; a pair of sunglasses in place of her usual spectacles. Next to the recliner were her tatty old Birkenstocks that were in dire need of an upgrade; the imprint of her feet etched into the leather. Her feet themselves were crossed at the ankles, a demonstration of her relaxation, which was completely at odds with the nervous squirming she’d induced in my tummy from that threatening letter I’d received.
“Carol,” I said in a soft tone while I approached her fence. “Please may I speak to you for a moment?” I held the cheque aloft. “I have the payment for the fine. I’d like to bring an end to this whole thing.” It was killing me inside that I was actually going to pay this wretched woman, but I was fearful of the weight she could pull in court, especially since she’d had the police dancing to her tune. The last thing I needed was a court appearance on my record, and subsequent fees on top of this already outrageous fine. I knew in my heart that I was correct in all of this, but that didn’t seem to matter when I had everything weighted against me. For my own peace of mind, I figured it was better to just be done with the whole thing. “I don’t agree with it, but I don’t want to go to court, so I’ll pay it.” I actually felt ashamed of myself for giving in, I had no other choice. I couldn’t afford a bloody lawyer.
Carol glanced up from her book, and though her eyes were hidden behind her shades, I could see the grimace on her lips. “You just love disturbing me when I’m busy, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, remembering our previous encounter and how she’d completely manipulated the situation with her dramatics. “I just want to pay what I owe.” It was my turn to grimace. “Not what I owe, but what you fined me.”
She flopped the book down on her lap. “You do realise that we don’t all exist to please you, right? Your little debt may be a priority in your life, but it’s certainly not a priority in mine.” She waved me away dismissively with her hand. “You should make an appointment to see me like everyone else.”
I was about to say something, when I paused, unsure if she was actually joking or not. She was hardly busy, was she? Lazing around in the garden and reading a book. Plus, I was only there because she’d deemed it necessary to fine me for something completely trivial. I would have been more than happy to never cross paths with her again, but she was the one delivering letters to my home and demanding payment while threatening court. The sheer gall of her to suggest I needed to make an appointment to see her was the icing on the cake. She was a resident here, the same as I, though she was acting like she was the queen or something. All of this was her doing. I hadn’t turned up on her door the first day and demanded she had to remove her pond, had I? Now, she was twisting the situation as if I was currently harassing her when I just wanted to bring a conclusion to our altercation.
I swallowed, and steadied myself, remembering to be amicable, as my friend had suggested. Even though I was raging at her arrogance and dismissive treatment of me, especially since she was the one causing problems in my life, I knew I didn’t want to complicate matters further. “Please, could I just pass you this cheque, and then I’ll leave you alone?”
Carol lifted her sunglasses and pushed them back into her blonde hair. The sun was reflecting from the lotion she’d clumsily wiped all over her face. Beneath the shades, in an almost dorky way, she was still wearing her regular glasses. She looked me up and down, before holding out a hand towards me. “Fine,” she said, “Bring it over here.”
“Thank you.” I opened the gate, and started heading towards her.
Carol snapped her fingers impatiently, which caused me to skip and quicken in pace. “Come on,” she said. “I don’t have all day.”
When I reached her, I handed her the cheque, which she snatched from my hand and read. Meanwhile, I stood there awkwardly and didn’t know what to say. There was a strange feeling inside me and I felt completely out of place, as if I was somewhere that I didn’t belong. The way she was just laying back in her swimsuit, with her bare feet crossed, relaxed and completely at ease while I was in the height of trepidation and desperate for this to be the end of the whole matter. On top of that, the way she had snapped her fingers at me as if I was some servant bringing her a morning coffee only seemed to compound my uneasiness further; especially since my natural response had been to leap to her signal and quicken my stride.
“You can leave now,” she said, before placing the cheque on a small table next to her.
“Is…is everything good between us now?” I asked.
“I already said you can leave.” She picked up her book and flopped down her sunglasses once more. “You’re bothering me,” she said, “and now you’re trespassing.”
I froze in place, and though I knew it was probably better to just retreat from her property, I was hesitant and out of my comfort zone. I didn’t know what to do, and I felt like whatever choice I made would be the wrong one. Instead, I lingered in place, taking a step away, before pausing and hovering near her recliner. “I…uh…”
Will there a part 2?