<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/0gzSsUL.png)</div><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li><strong>Character</strong>: James St. Clair</li><li><strong>Location</strong>: The St. Clair Residence</li><li><strong>Tagged</strong>: Yvonne St. Clair, too many others to list</li></ul><br/>James tapped his wine glass, trying to catch attention over the raucous music in the neighboring house.<em>That's the Eames house,</em>he thought.<em>I'll have to have a word with Gregory. It's still too early for the noise curfew, but they're getting close to breaking the normal sound decibel laws now.</em><br/><br/>Tapping the wine glass again, he cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming," he said earnestly. "I know you didn't all vote for me, but your presence is appreciated, and the Homeowner's Association couldn't function without the input from the residents."<br/><br/>He glanced briefly at the glass door towards the Eames house.<em>They just hit a new level of loud</em>, he thought, starting to get annoyed. "Your continued involvement will help keep this community lively, and keep our real estate values up." He had to prod them on<em>why</em>the HOA was important. A single house in such a bad state that it needed to be condemned could drop the value of other houses near it by hundreds of thousands. He knew that the current value of a house that you planned to live in for another decade was mostly meaningless, but it was something that pretty much everyone cared about.<br/><br/>"I'll keep this brief," he continued, "since most of this is things that were already discussed at length and voted on. The Christmas decorations now have a limit on light, sound, and cost, to prevent another Santa War. I know that Christmas is still months away, but I also know that some of you are already planning for it. And, somewhat related, thanks to the clever vandalism from last year, where Rudolph was put in a compromising position right in front of Santa, there will now be a $500 fine for people caught messing with decorations that aren't their own."<br/><br/>He took a breath, and soldiered on. "The fine for parking on your street on street sweeping days is going up to $250." He thumped the podium for effect. "Yes, this is more than triple the previous fine, but some people were flat-out ignoring it, and that makes the street sweepers' job hard."<br/><br/>"And last, but not least..." the noise was now too much. James' temper was frayed, and he couldn't take it any more. "Eames, will you go take care of that, before we have to call in Security, and fine you for noise violations?"<br/><br/>He scowled, and looked around the room. His eyes caught on his wife Yvonne and her outfit.<em>I don't think I've seen that before. What is that? Not silk or leather...</em>His interest was piqued, but his mood certainly wasn't. He turned back to Gregory Eames. "Or would you like some help with that?"