HOA charges me for parking my bike on my own porch
It was one of those evenings where exhaustion settled into my bones like cement. I had just gotten home after a long shift, my only goal being to dump my bag, grab a cold drink, and collapse on the couch. As I pulled up to my apartment building, I swung my bike onto the porch like I always did, the same spot it had rested for the past three weeks. I didn’t even get a chance to take the keys out of my pocket before I heard it—the sharp, deliberate clearing of a throat. I turned around slowly, already knowing who it was. Mr. Howard, the self-appointed ruler of the Cedar Heights apartment complex, stood there with his arms folded across his chest, staring at me like I had just committed a crime. His oversized belt barely held up the gut he carried with pride, and he had the same smug expression he always did when he thought he had caught someone breaking one of his imaginary rules.......