“What?” For some reason, under the watchful look of disdain from her, I felt the need to apologise. “I’m not disturbing your workout.”
She blinked at me, before raising her head slightly and peering down her nose at me. “You should have come by my office to settle your fine. This is extremely rude to come bother we while I’m exercising.” She shook her head. “And just so you know, with incurred late fees, your fine is over $500 by this point.”
I was holding my water bottle and towel, while wearing my singlet, sweat pants and sneakers. It was pretty damn obvious that I’d come to use the gym. “I’m not here to pay that fine, or whatever late fees you’ve tacked onto it.” Since the ice had been broken, I figured now was as good a time as any to settle this matter once and for all. “Anyway, I’ve already removed the BBQ, if you would like to come and see?” The truth was it was dismantled and in the trunk of my car. Even though I had no intention of paying the fine, I’d taken down the BBQ just in case Carol escalated things. In the event she came by, I’d planned to drop the BBQ off to my mother’s so that Carol wouldn’t have anything to complain about anymore.
“Obviously not,” she said. “You can see how busy I am.” She was about to put her air pods back in, when I reached out and grabbed the handle of the elliptical, causing her face to grimace in distaste.
“Come on,” I urged, while looking up at her hopefully. “I really feel like the fine is no longer necessary and I’d really like for us to come to an agreement.” I nodded towards the remainder of the gym. “I don’t want awkwardness whenever we’re in the same place.” I was being way more diplomatic than she deserved after her behaviour.
She simply rolled her eyes, then let out an impatient huff. “Just pay it and we’re good.” She then squinted at the watch on her wrist. “It’s due today, isn’t it?”
“I can’t afford it,” I said in embarrassment, while looking down and away from her. “With all of the moving costs and my mortgage, I just can’t afford something like this on top, especially for something so petty.”
I expected some level of sympathy, however, she continued to look down her nose at me while perched on the frozen elliptical. “Well, you should have thought about that before you violated the agreement, shouldn’t you? You were warned by myself about holding a BBQ in your garden, and you went ahead and did it anyway. So, don’t come here and act like I’m the villain because I was rightfully enforcing the rules. If you knew you couldn’t afford a fine, then you should have worked harder to avoid receiving one.”
“I’ve read through the Homeowner Association rules and regulations,” I sighed. “I don’t think you’re being fair. I’ve only just moved in here.”
“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.
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