The first yellow post went into the ground at 7:18 on a Tuesday morning.
The Black homeowner knew the exact time because the hydraulic drill woke her before her alarm.
At first she thought someone was repairing a water line.
Then came the metallic hammering.
A second burst.
A grinding engine.
Men shouting measurements to one another outside.
She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
The sound stopped.
For three seconds, the house was quiet.
Then—
BRRRRRRRT.
She sat up.
“What in the world?”
Her bedroom faced the rear of the house, so she could not see the street from the window. She slipped into house shoes, walked through the hallway, and pulled aside the curtain beside the front door.
For several seconds, her mind refused to make sense of what she was seeing.
A white utility truck sat partly along the curb.
Its articulated boom rested above the equipment bed.
Orange cones had been placed along the sidewalk.
Two men wearing fluorescent safety vests were working at the mouth of her driveway.
And sticking out of the grass beside them were bright yellow steel bollards.
Lots of them.
She counted the ones already laid across the lawn.
Nine.
Then saw another bundle on the truck.
Her white SUV sat halfway up the driveway.
The first four bollards had been installed in a neat line across its only path to the street.
She stared.
A worker bent over another marked location.
The drill started again.
The homeowner unlocked the front door.
Cold morning air rushed inside.
“Excuse me!”
Neither worker heard.
She stepped onto the porch.
“Excuse me!”
One looked up.
He released the trigger.
The machine wound down.
The second worker straightened.
The homeowner walked quickly across her front path.
“What are you doing?”
The younger worker glanced toward the truck.
“Morning, ma’am.”
“What are you doing to my driveway?”
The older worker stepped forward.
He appeared to be the foreman.
“We’ve got an installation order.”
“For what?”
He gestured toward the yellow steel posts.
“Parking-control bollards.”
She stared at him.
“On my driveway?”
He looked down at his work sheet.
“That’s what we were given.”