"I think so too."
The experience changed how Caleb used the Lamborghini.
For a while, he avoided driving it through Stonebridge Heights.
He didn't want to hear another question about the graffiti or encounter another neighbor who expected him to explain the dispute.
But the car had never been intended to remain hidden.
Raymond loved driving.
He loved the sound of engines and the feeling of a machine responding exactly as its driver expected.
Caleb remembered the first time they took the restored Lamborghini onto a quiet road.
His father was already ill.
They drove slowly.
There was no racing.
No showing off.
Just two men enjoying the result of years of work.
Raymond had turned toward his son and smiled.
"Now that's what we built it for."
Caleb decided he wouldn't let Brett and Marianne turn that memory into something painful forever.
So he began driving the car again.
Short Saturday trips.
Occasional automotive events.
And visits to the workshop where he still knew many of the mechanics.
The first time he drove through Stonebridge Heights after the repair, several neighbors waved.
A little boy near the sidewalk pointed excitedly.
His father smiled.
Caleb waved back.
For the first time in months, the attention felt ordinary again.
The new HOA board made substantial changes.
Judith Park insisted that enforcement notices identify the relevant rules, supporting evidence, and established review process.
Vendor relationships involving potential conflicts of interest required disclosure and appropriate approval.
The association also created clearer procedures for disputed vehicle complaints, including restrictions on unilateral action by individual board officers.
Homeowners were given more accessible information about how to request records and challenge decisions.
The reforms were sometimes tedious.
They involved documents.
Meetings.
Votes.
And conversations about details most residents preferred not to think about.
But those details mattered.
A rule only protected people when it was applied according to its proper limits.
And an organization couldn't rely on the character of a single president to keep everyone safe from abuses of authority.
Eleanor attended several meetings.
She asked thoughtful questions about vehicle-removal procedures.
Judith welcomed her participation.
Caleb occasionally attended as well.
He didn't want to become HOA president.
He had no interest in replacing Marianne as the neighborhood's most powerful personality.
He simply wanted an association capable of managing common responsibilities without confusing them with ownership of individual residents' lives.
One year after the vandalism, Caleb organized a small automotive education day at Turner Motion Works.