Qualified technicians would need to inspect the affected properties and safely restore service.
The work could begin after the necessary inspection was completed.
“And it will be billed according to whoever holds the maintenance obligation.”
Celeste stared at me.
“You endangered elderly residents.”
“I knocked on forty-seven doors Saturday.”
Her face changed.
“I delivered written notices because the board was asked twice to send them and refused.”
I continued.
“I have documentation of every notice and the names of the people who accepted them.”
“The board will seek an injunction by the end of the day.”
“That’s your right. Reed Callahan will accept service.”
I gave her Reed’s address from memory.
Then Celeste reached for the only thing she had left.
She said it loudly enough for Graham to hear.
I think she genuinely believed it was a knife.
“You are a technician, Nolan. You do not understand how association law works.”
I did not raise my voice.
I have thought a lot about why.
The closest answer I have is that raising it would have cost me something and gained me nothing.
“Maybe not.”
I let a beat pass.
“But I do understand my own propane line.”
Then I opened the folder I had carried down to the gate.
I began handing her documents.
The certified copy of the license with the recording number highlighted.
The plat map showing my parcel outside Cedar Hollow’s boundary in a heavy black line.
The as-built drawing showing the tank, regulator station, and master shutoff equipment on my side of that boundary.
Her written confirmation.
Her own sentence about the ugly tank.
Celeste read the first page the way someone reads when trying to locate an error rather than understand the meaning.
Then she stopped.
She returned to the top of the license.
Her hand was not completely steady anymore.
That was when I understood something.
She was not reading the document for the first time.
Graham had gone almost the color of the frost.
“Celeste.”
She kept reading.
“Celeste.”
Then Graham said the sentence that ended the standoff at my gate.
“We need to call the attorney.”
Celeste did not look up.
Graham looked at me instead.
There was something in his expression that seemed to be asking permission for something.
I nodded without knowing what I had agreed to.
They climbed back into the crossover.
Then they drove uphill.
I returned to my shop.
I answered eleven more phone calls before dark.