"You're going to rupture a gas line! I'm calling the city! I'm calling the EPA!"
The EPA? Mason froze. Nobody threatens to call the Environmental Protection Agency over a neighbor planting a tree. Sylvia pulled out her phone, her hands shaking violently. Within an hour, a city inspector and two police officers were on Mason's lawn. Sylvia had filed an emergency injunction claiming Mason was performing unlicensed excavation that threatened the structural integrity of both properties. The city inspector, a tired-looking man with a clipboard, told Mason he had to halt all landscaping until a full environmental review was conducted.
"She's playing you," Mason argued, pointing at Sylvia, who was watching from her porch with a smug, tight-lipped smile. "She's been harassing me for months!"