The lady I worked with when I signed the final papers for ownership in the gated community of Better Than You Estates gave me a handbook of the rules of what could and could not be done with the property. At the time, I thought, hey if I own it, and if nobody sees it, I can do what I will with my home. With that in mind, I didn’t read every single page of the lengthy handbook of gated community regulations.
Magenta is my favorite color. One of the first things I did when I moved in was paint my kitchen cupboards magenta and the walls a lovely peach color. The area rug under the kitchen table was a pattern of rosebuds and peaches. The curtains were white lace. I was so proud of how it looked when it was finished.
One day someone rang the doorbell. I answered it to find Mrs. Kravitz, the neighbor who lived across the street. Mrs. Kravitz was selling season tickets to the symphony. I wanted to get more involved in my new community and thought symphony season might be a way to do it. I asked Mrs. Kravitz to wait inside while I wrote out a check. I noticed her looking around and admiring my decorating skills – or at least it seemed like that was what she was doing. She took my check, smiled and thanked me, and was on her merry way.
The next morning as I was getting ready for work, I heard the doorbell again and went to answer it. It was the community maintenance supervisor, Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers was a pleasant gentleman who kept the property at Better Than You Estates looking its best. I wondered why he was there, as I had put in no maintenance call.
“Miss Jones, I’m here because the office received information about your having magenta paint in your kitchen. Section 3 of article 14 in the handbook specifically forbids any color deeper than salmon to be used on interior surfaces of the home.”
Mr. Rogers held out a letter, signed by the property owners and co-signed by the President of the Gated Community Overseer Committee, Mrs. Gladys Kravitz.
Mr. Rogers said, “By the authority of the owners and the committee, I hereby notify you that you have 14 days to remove or cover the magenta or face legal action. I’m sorry, Miss Jones, but rules are rules and we take the rules very seriously here at Better Than You Estates!”
The End.
Fandango’s FOWC is authority, the Word of the Day Challenge is lady, and Paula’s 3 Things Challenge words are kitchen, magenta, symphony
Tao Talk 
Interesting story!
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I adjusted the story Sadje you might want to re-read. I added a video at the bottom 🙂
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I remember her from Bewitched!
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ACK ! I hate nosey neighbors.
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That’s why I moved out to the country.
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I understand why !!!!!
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No wonder Gladys Kravitz freaked out. Magenta cabinets? Tsk tsk.
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None of Gladys’ business! I think she was selling tickets door to door to snoop for “violations”.
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Magenta! Awesome! Hilarious.
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It’s the color I was given, and I ran with it!
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Miss Jones, Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Kravitz, ha ha, loved all the names!
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I had quite the ensemble for my tale. It was fun to put them all in there.
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Fun to read, as well!
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🙂 Thanks, Irene.
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When we looked at houses we looked in a few rule heavy communities. Jennifer knew better than to have me in one…first thing I would have done was put a pink flamingo in the front yard.
The first Mrs. Kravitzs.. she was a piece of work.
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Great comment, Max. I don’t do well with rules, especially ones like what color I can paint my walls! Also, the name of the community, like because your walls are a certain color you’re better than everyone else?? We must stop the insanity! I was reading in the comments of the youtubes that she was fighting cancer during all of this, which makes me feel guilty for despising her now!
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Well it’s just too far. I know they have some in place for a reason…I mean yea I shouldn’t be able to start a pig farm in a suburban area…though I would get a laugh…I get it but no the silly rules…I have yet to meet a rule I didn’t want to break.
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I loved the names Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood meets Mrs. Crabtree. Great story JadeLi.
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Thank you much, Len.
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I remember a (possible true story of a neighbor) who was a young woman buying a home for the first time. And she spent hours at the closing, before signing her documents because she wasn’t taking any lawyers word – she indeed read every word of the contract and even the fine print!
(I remember Mrs. Kravitz … I think I had her clone in our neighborhood for a few years – couldn’t keep her nose out of everyone else’s business…)
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I used to live next to a lady like her, way back when my kids were little. She couldn’t help herself. I felt sorry for her poor husband, who spent much of his time outside, out of earshot.
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Harsh. but rules are rules… (K)
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You know what they say about rules…. I left the story purposely ambiguous and it has been fun reading the comments.
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