After Brenda, residents asked one question constantly.
“Where is that written?”
I loved it.
Sometimes the answer was easy.
Pool closes at ten.
Written.
No commercial vehicles overnight.
Written.
Shared landscaping assessment.
Written.
Other times somebody proposed something and residents demanded the vote.
The authority.
The limits.
Nobody screamed.
Nobody threatened.
They simply asked.
That habit would have stopped Brenda in the first week.
One question.
Show me where.
She had survived because people were embarrassed to ask.
I was not smarter than everyone else.
I had simply spent enough years around structured authority to know something important.
Real authority has paperwork.
Orders exist.
Chains of command exist.
Limits exist.
Accountability exists.
A person who tells you, “I have authority because I say I do,” usually has the opposite.
Darren’s vest said HOA SECURITY.
The gun made the costume more frightening.
Neither transformed him into law enforcement.
Brenda’s title said vice president.
