Now her determination to win had cost her the office she valued most.
But she was not prepared to accept responsibility.
By Tuesday afternoon, she had begun calling residents who had supported her in previous elections.
She told them the board had acted unfairly.
She claimed the father had manipulated the directors.
She described the hornets' nest incident as a misunderstood attempt to protect the community.
She insisted that the safety assessment program was legitimate.
Some residents believed her.
Others were uncertain.
But the more she talked, the more people began asking questions about the actual video.
One former supporter finally asked whether she had really held a hornets' nest above children.
The woman hesitated.
Then she said she had been trying to remove it from a nearby area.
The supporter asked why it had been near the father's fence.
She became angry.
“Because that's where the nuisance was!”
The conversation ended shortly afterward.
The former president was beginning to discover that people could defend a strict HOA leader without being willing to defend a threat to children.
Meanwhile, the father received formal notification of the board's action.
He read it at the kitchen table.
His oldest daughter noticed him smiling.
“What happened?”
He looked up.
“They removed her as president.”
The girl stared.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean she can't send us those letters anymore?”
“She won't be authorized to issue them as president.”
The girl smiled.
Then she stopped.
“But can she still come to our fence?”
The father folded the letter.
“We're making sure the proper people know what happened. And if she causes another problem, we'll report it.”
The girl considered that.
“Can we go outside?”
The father looked toward the backyard.
The hazard had been professionally addressed, and the family had been advised that it was safe to use the yard again.
But the children's fear had not disappeared.
He stood.
“Let's go together.”
They walked through the sliding patio door.
The lawn looked exactly as it had before.
The swing set stood near the fence.
The concrete path still displayed the youngest daughter's unfinished chalk heart.
The boy's green basketball rested beside the garden shed.
Yet the backyard felt different.
The children remained close to the father.
None of them ran toward the swings.
He understood.
He walked to the center of the yard and sat on the grass.
One by one, the children joined him.
For a while, they talked about ordinary things.
School assignments.
A classmate's birthday party.
A science project.