The baseball bat.
The ringing metallic impact against the ladder.
And my immediate realization that striking the ladder while someone stood near the top was dangerous.
I steadied it until Judith climbed down.
Then I told her she'd destroyed the wrong camera.
Her expression changed.
And she asked what I had seen the night before.
That was the moment I stopped thinking of her actions as merely reckless HOA enforcement.
She was terrified of evidence.
Evidence she believed the damaged camera had captured.
But she still didn't know what the other recordings showed.
And neither did I.
Not completely.
Judith reached into her handbag and pulled out her phone.
For a moment, I thought she was going to call her attorney.
Instead, she dialed emergency services.
I stood beside the ladder, breathing heavily, while she told the dispatcher that a violent homeowner had attacked her with a baseball bat.
She described me as unstable.
Dangerous.
And determined to hurt her because she was enforcing community rules.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Judith, tell them you were smashing my camera."
She turned away.
"He's still threatening me!"
I looked toward the broken pieces scattered across the concrete.
Then toward the hammer lying in the grass.
I realized arguing with her wouldn't help.
So I stepped back, picked up my phone, and made my own call.
I explained that the HOA president had entered my property without permission, climbed my ladder, and deliberately destroyed a security camera.
I also told the dispatcher that I'd struck the ladder's lower rung with a bat before immediately steadying it.
I didn't leave that part out.
I knew it had been reckless.
And I wasn't going to demand an honest investigation while concealing my own actions.
The dispatcher asked whether anyone was injured.
Neither of us appeared to be.
Judith was standing beside the driveway.
I remained several yards away.
I agreed to keep my distance until officers arrived.
Then I returned inside to check on Lucy.
My daughter was standing near the kitchen doorway.
Her face was pale.
She'd seen part of the confrontation through the window.
"Daddy?"
I knelt beside her.
"Hey, sweetheart."
Her eyes filled.
"Is that lady going to hurt you?"
The question struck me harder than I expected.
I shook my head gently.
"I'm okay."
Lucy looked toward the side entrance.
"Why did you hit the ladder?"
For a moment, I hesitated.
Then answered honestly.
"I got angry and made a bad decision."
She stared at me.