Mark didn’t need to ask around to know the neighborhood had officially turned on the whole thing. He could hear it. By the second week, people had stopped joking and started complaining. Every time he happened to be outside, there seemed to be someone bringing it up — over the fence, from the sidewalk, or while slowing down near the mailbox.
One neighbor said the yard had become an eyesore. Another called it a fire hazard. Someone else said they were sure the homeowners association would never allow it if they knew how bad it had gotten. As it turned out, they already did.
A few neighbors had apparently been emailing photos of Darren’s backyard to the HOA for days, and by then, the complaints had become impossible to ignore. People were talking about safety, stacked rubber, summer heat, and what might happen if the whole thing ever caught fire. Mark hadn’t wanted to get dragged into any of it, but because he lived right next door, he kept ending up in the middle of every conversation.
And the more he heard, the more one thing became obvious: This wasn’t just neighborhood gossip anymore. It was turning into a real problem.
