- 28 minutes ago
Welcome to Inside the HOA your front-row seat to the fascinating, funny, and sometimes frustrating world of Homeowners Associations.
We share real stories, insider insights, and jaw-dropping moments from neighborhoods across the country. Whether you’re a homeowner, a renter, or just curious about what happens behind those gated communities, our videos will keep you informed and entertained.
This is one of the most outrageous HOA disputes you’ll ever hear. Fourteen months after losing his wife, retired sheriff Nathan Cole walked into his garage and discovered that her beloved blue 1967 Mustang was gone.
It wasn’t abandoned. It wasn’t donated. And it had never been for sale.
But HOA president Victoria Sloan had decided it would make the perfect birthday gift for her nineteen-year-old son.
What followed became a deeply personal HOA nightmare: unauthorized entry into a private garage, a broken key cabinet, fraudulent donation paperwork, and a birthday celebration built around a car that belonged to someone else.
But Victoria had ignored something crucial.
The Mustang’s brake repairs weren’t finished.
A red warning card had been hanging from the steering wheel.
And Nathan’s garage camera recorded her reading it—before removing it.
When Nathan discovered a photograph of his wife’s Mustang surrounded by birthday decorations, he immediately notified dispatch and headed to the clubhouse with his mechanic, Ben Ortiz.
Victoria had already called the deputies.
She claimed an unstable neighbor was threatening to disrupt her son’s celebration over a vehicle he had willingly surrendered.
Then her son started the engine.
Nathan shouted a warning. Ben rushed toward the driver’s window. And a birthday surprise became an urgent effort to keep the car from reaching the downhill exit.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
But Victoria wasn’t finished.
She pointed at Nathan and demanded that the sheriff remove him.
Then Sheriff Elena Ruiz recognized the man standing in front of her.
And raised her hand in a salute.
What Victoria didn’t know was that Nathan had once served as county sheriff—and had saved Ruiz’s life years earlier.
But recognition wasn’t going to decide this case.
The evidence was.
As investigators examined the garage footage, collection paperwork, photographs, and phone messages, Victoria’s explanation began falling apart. The tow driver produced a message claiming the repairs were complete. Her own son discovered that the story she had told him about his birthday gift wasn’t true.
Then another photograph revealed that she had entered Nathan’s garage before the day the Mustang disappeared.
This had taken planning.
For Nathan and his daughter, Hannah, the Mustang was never just an expensive classic car. It held a grocery-cart dent Ellie refused to repair, a little sunflower on the dashboard, and memories nobody had permission to give away.
Watch until the end to see how the truth came out, what happened when Victoria’s son chose honesty,
We share real stories, insider insights, and jaw-dropping moments from neighborhoods across the country. Whether you’re a homeowner, a renter, or just curious about what happens behind those gated communities, our videos will keep you informed and entertained.
This is one of the most outrageous HOA disputes you’ll ever hear. Fourteen months after losing his wife, retired sheriff Nathan Cole walked into his garage and discovered that her beloved blue 1967 Mustang was gone.
It wasn’t abandoned. It wasn’t donated. And it had never been for sale.
But HOA president Victoria Sloan had decided it would make the perfect birthday gift for her nineteen-year-old son.
What followed became a deeply personal HOA nightmare: unauthorized entry into a private garage, a broken key cabinet, fraudulent donation paperwork, and a birthday celebration built around a car that belonged to someone else.
But Victoria had ignored something crucial.
The Mustang’s brake repairs weren’t finished.
A red warning card had been hanging from the steering wheel.
And Nathan’s garage camera recorded her reading it—before removing it.
When Nathan discovered a photograph of his wife’s Mustang surrounded by birthday decorations, he immediately notified dispatch and headed to the clubhouse with his mechanic, Ben Ortiz.
Victoria had already called the deputies.
She claimed an unstable neighbor was threatening to disrupt her son’s celebration over a vehicle he had willingly surrendered.
Then her son started the engine.
Nathan shouted a warning. Ben rushed toward the driver’s window. And a birthday surprise became an urgent effort to keep the car from reaching the downhill exit.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
But Victoria wasn’t finished.
She pointed at Nathan and demanded that the sheriff remove him.
Then Sheriff Elena Ruiz recognized the man standing in front of her.
And raised her hand in a salute.
What Victoria didn’t know was that Nathan had once served as county sheriff—and had saved Ruiz’s life years earlier.
But recognition wasn’t going to decide this case.
The evidence was.
As investigators examined the garage footage, collection paperwork, photographs, and phone messages, Victoria’s explanation began falling apart. The tow driver produced a message claiming the repairs were complete. Her own son discovered that the story she had told him about his birthday gift wasn’t true.
Then another photograph revealed that she had entered Nathan’s garage before the day the Mustang disappeared.
This had taken planning.
For Nathan and his daughter, Hannah, the Mustang was never just an expensive classic car. It held a grocery-cart dent Ellie refused to repair, a little sunflower on the dashboard, and memories nobody had permission to give away.
Watch until the end to see how the truth came out, what happened when Victoria’s son chose honesty,
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00مرتبط له هذا مطلقة
00:01لم يقرأت هذا
00:03لماذا هذا؟
00:05انه كانت مطلقة مطلقة
00:08يسيطر بإمكانه
00:09انه تحبه هاموه
00:09تسيطر بإمكانه
00:11تحديده
00:12انتحي الانتحيات
00:13اشتركوا في المنزل
00:19هذا يقال في غير المقرأ
00:21ثم تحديد به نحيان
00:24يجب أن يشتركوا في المنزل
00:27انتحقوا في مناهات
00:29لأنه لديه
00:31جده مني سنسنه
00:33تبقى
00:35اشتركتها
00:37امتلتها
00:39شكرا
00:41ميزة
00:48المترجم
00:49تبقى
00:50تبقى
00:51تبقى
00:52تبقى
00:52رجل
00:53مات
00:55المترجماتي
01:24كانت مجتمع في مبتع غراي بصف مجتمع
01:27يوم به مجتمع
01:28ونها مي
01:30ونها موت أن تفقواها بصدر ورب فارجين مستخدام
01:32وما مره جيد لها ألافك
01:36وما كانت أولا يوم عندنا الفترة
01:38وانت فتح الأنقى
01:40لما مرهجل تحدثك
01:43منذ مرهجل
01:47المرهجل
01:48صف لي
01:50ثلاث المنزل
01:52اتبع
01:52ohرحاتها
01:53أحنا التي أشترنا
01:53elsاقبت
01:53طويلة
01:54My name is Nathan Cole. I'm 61. I spent 32 years in county law enforcement, including eight as sheriff.
02:02These days, I repair old furniture, maintain 12 acres outside town, and occasionally manage to cook something without burning it.
02:12The Mustang belonged to my wife, Ellie.
02:15A 1967 Fastback, blue with a cream interior and a tiny dent beneath the passenger door.
02:22She refused to fix that dent.
02:25First grocery run after we bought it, she used to say. That's family history.
02:31She taught our daughter, Hannah, to drive in that car, took it to Saturday fundraisers.
02:39Once filled the trunk with school supplies and forgot, she had also promised to bring the folding tables.
02:45When cancer took her, people told me to sell it.
02:49I understood what they meant.
02:51An empty passenger seat can hurt more than an empty room.
02:56But Ellie had left instructions.
02:59Keep driving. Take Hannah somewhere beautiful.
03:03I wasn't ready yet.
03:04Still, I had finally started getting the Mustang ready.
03:09My friend Ben Ortiz was rebuilding its brake system.
03:13The car sat inside my garage with the battery disconnected, the keys secured, and a red warning card hanging from
03:21the steering wheel.
03:22Brake surface in Collete. Do not operate.
03:26Ben was coming back that afternoon with the remaining parts.
03:30Instead, I found an empty space, a broken cabinet latch, and my side gate standing open.
03:37I set both coffees down before my hands could drop them.
03:42Then I called the sheriff's office.
03:45The dispatcher asked whether I had authorized anyone to collect the vehicle.
03:50No.
03:52Any possibility.
03:54A family member borrowed it.
03:57I looked at the warning card lying beside the garage door.
04:02No.
04:03And whoever has it needs to be stopped before somebody starts the engine.
04:08I gave her the plate, the description, and the brake warning.
04:12Then I called Ben.
04:14He answered, cheerfully.
04:16By the time I finished, he was already getting into his truck.
04:19Don't chase it, he said.
04:22We find it parked.
04:24That's how we want to find it.
04:26Across my fence sat Briar Glen, a development built 19 years after Ellie and I bought our place.
04:33Its HOA controlled nothing on my property.
04:37Victoria Sloan disagreed with that arrangement on principle.
04:41She had complained about my workshop, my gravel driveway, and the fact that my fence posts didn't match her entrance
04:50sign.
04:51Three weeks earlier, she had noticed the Mustang through my open garage.
04:56Her son Tyler was turning 19.
04:59He's always wanted something classic, she said.
05:04So did my wife.
05:06She asked what I wanted for it.
05:09It isn't for sale.
05:11She offered $15,000, then $20.
05:14When I refused again, she tilted her head.
05:18Nathan, you can't keep a shrine forever.
05:21I remember the smell of sawdust, the radio playing softly, the way my hands went still around a piece of
05:29sandpaper.
05:30Get off my property.
05:32She left offended, as though I had embarrassed her by loving someone she had never met.
05:39Four days later, an HOA notice arrived.
05:47The registration was current.
05:50The car was inside a private garage.
05:53I sent those fax to the association's management company and kept a copy.
05:58Then came a second letter proposing a voluntary vehicle donation for a youth automotive program.
06:06There was no program description.
06:09No charity number.
06:11Just Victoria's signature and instructions to leave the keys available for collection.
06:16I wrote one sentence across my response.
06:20I do not authorize any removal, transfer, donation, or use of this vehicle.
06:25She received it on Monday.
06:28The Mustang disappeared Thursday.
06:31My garage camera showed everything.
06:35At 8.17, a flatbed stopped outside my gate.
06:38Victoria stepped out behind it, carrying her familiar burgundy folder.
06:44The driver hesitated at the property sign.
06:48She handed him paperwork.
06:50Then she used a code on my side gate.
06:53That hurt almost as much as seeing the truck.
06:57Ellie had once given Victoria the code during a wildfire evacuation,
07:01when neighbors were moving pets through our acreage.
07:05A favor from my wife had become the way into her garage.
07:10The camera recorded Victoria entering, stopping at the Mustang, and lifting the red warning card.
07:17She read it.
07:21Then she removed it and dropped it near the doorway.
07:26The driver pointed toward the car.
07:28There was no audio inside the garage, but his body language was clear.
07:33He wanted an answer.
07:35Victoria waved him forward.
07:37The car left on the flatbed.
07:40She stayed behind long enough to force open the little cabinet, where I kept its keys.
07:46I sent the footage to the investigator assigned to my report.
07:50No favors.
07:52No private arrangement.
07:54A case number and evidence.
07:56The same things I had asked other people to provide for decades.
08:00Then Hannah called.
08:03Dad, check your messages.
08:04She had sent a screenshot from the Briar Glen residence page.
08:10Victoria stood beside the Mustang wearing a birthday sash that said,
08:15Proud Mom.
08:16Her caption read,
08:18Some boys deserve more than ordinary gifts.
08:21Surprise presentation at 11.
08:24Underneath, Tyler had written,
08:26You actually found one.
08:28Mom, seriously.
08:30I checked the clock.
08:3210.26
08:33The clubhouse was 15 minutes away.
08:38I called dispatch again and gave them the location.
08:42I repeated the mechanical warning.
08:45Ben arrived while I was speaking.
08:47I handed him my phone.
08:49He stared at the photograph.
08:52That's our car, he said quietly.
08:55Our car?
08:57Ellie used to bring me lunch when my shop was starting.
09:00Half the tools I own came from jobs, she recommended.
09:05He swallowed.
09:06Yeah, Nathan.
09:08Our car.
09:09We drove separately.
09:11Hannah headed there from work.
09:14At the clubhouse, blue balloons moved in the breeze.
09:17Someone had spread a white tablecloth over a folding table.
09:21A bakery box sat beside a giant novelty key.
09:25The Mustang waited on the flat service apron behind the building.
09:29Beyond that apron, the access lane sloped toward the main road.
09:33Two deputies were speaking with Victoria.
09:37She had already called them.
09:40According to her report, an unstable neighbor had threatened to disrupt a birthday celebration
09:47over a vehicle he had willingly surrendered.
09:50Deputy Lewis approached me first.
09:54Sir, stay here while we establish ownership.
09:58My name is Nathan Cole.
10:00Dispatch has my theft report.
10:02The immediate problem is the brakes.
10:05Victoria heard me and marched across the pavement.
10:08Oh, please.
10:10He's been threatening this since he changed his mind.
10:14I kept my hands visible.
10:16Where are the keys?
10:18She lifted her chin.
10:21With their new owner.
10:23Behind her, Tyler slid into the driver's seat.
10:27Ben called his name.
10:29The engine started.
10:32Everything narrowed to that sound.
10:35I shouted the warning.
10:37Victoria shouted over me.
10:39Tyler selected a gear.
10:40And the Mustang moved a few feet across the apron
10:44before he understood the pedal was doing nothing.
10:48Ben reached the open window.
10:50Tyler shut the engine down immediately.
10:53Working together, Ben and the deputies brought the slow-moving car to rest on the level pavement
10:59and secured it.
11:01It never reached the slope.
11:04Nobody was hurt.
11:05But Tyler climbed out trembling so hard he couldn't hold the keys.
11:11Victoria grabbed his shoulder and pointed at me.
11:15He did this.
11:17He knew you'd drive it.
11:19That was when Sheriff Elena Ruiz arrived.
11:23She heard the accusation.
11:25Saw Ben crouched beside the wheel.
11:28Saw me standing beneath the balloons with my wife's warning card in my hand.
11:33Then she recognized me.
11:36Nathan.
11:37She straightened and saluted.
11:40Deputy Lewis, who had finally connected my name to the framed photograph at headquarters,
11:47followed her gesture.
11:49For a second, I couldn't speak.
11:52Twenty-three years earlier, Elena had been a probationary deputy.
11:56During a flash flood, I had pulled her from a patrol vehicle filling with water.
12:02She later served on my command staff, earned her promotion, and eventually won the office herself.
12:09She still saluted me when we met on Memorial Day.
12:13Victoria looked from her to Lewis.
12:16Why are you doing that?
12:19Ruiz lowered her hand.
12:21Because I know him.
12:24Then she looked directly at me.
12:27And because I know him, another supervisor will review this investigation.
12:32Nathan, give your statement like everybody else.
12:36I nodded.
12:37That's all I'm asking.
12:40Victoria's expression brightened briefly.
12:44Good.
12:45Then explained that he donated the vehicle.
12:47She opened her folder.
12:49Inside was a vehicle donation agreement, a collection authorization,
12:55and a receipt describing the Mustang as transferred to a community youth initiative.
13:01Ruiz examined the pages without commenting.
13:05Tyler stood several feet away, staring at his mother.
13:09You told me you bought it.
13:12Victoria turned sharply.
13:14I arranged it.
13:15You said a widow was selling her husband's car.
13:20The words landed between us.
13:22My wife owned that car, I said.
13:25She died last year.
13:27Tyler looked at the passenger seat.
13:30On the dashboard sat Ellie's little sunflower clip.
13:33He reached inside, removed it carefully, and handed it to me.
13:38I'm sorry.
13:40Victoria caught his arm.
13:42Stop apologizing.
13:45You haven't done anything.
13:47He pulled away.
13:49Then why did you lie?
13:52Hannah arrived before Victoria could answer.
13:55She saw the Mustang, the balloons, and the enormous gift key.
14:00For a moment, she just stood there.
14:03Then, she walked to the passenger door and touched the little dent beneath it.
14:09Mom hit a shopping cart here, she said.
14:13Nobody interrupted.
14:15She laughed so hard, she couldn't tell Dad what happened.
14:20Victoria shifted impatiently.
14:22This is becoming unnecessarily emotional.
14:26Hannah turned.
14:27You wrapped my mother's car in birthday balloons.
14:32Ruiz asked everyone to separate.
14:35The deputies took statements individually.
14:38Ben explained the incomplete repair and produced dated photographs from his shop records.
14:45I showed the garage footage.
14:48When Victoria appeared on the screen, removing the warning card, Ruiz asked Lewis to preserve the original file.
14:56Victoria stopped talking.
14:59The tow driver arrived twenty minutes later, after dispatch contacted his company.
15:05His name was Owen Price.
15:06He brought the paperwork she had given him and the photographs his employer required before loading a vehicle.
15:14One photograph showed the warning card still attached to the steering wheel.
15:20Owen looked sick.
15:23I asked about that, he said.
15:25She told me the repairs were finished.
15:28Said the old owner forgot to remove it.
15:31Ben closed his eyes.
15:33Victoria folded her arms.
15:35A misunderstanding.
15:38Owen unlocked his phone.
15:40You texted it.
15:42He handed the phone to the deputy.
15:45The message was short.
15:48Repairs completed.
15:49Safe to operate.
15:51Please remove old service notice before presentation.
15:55Nobody shouted after that.
15:57They didn't need to.
15:59I thought about Tyler reaching the slope.
16:02About a driver turning onto the main road.
16:06About a family receiving the kind of phone call I had delivered too many times.
16:11I stepped away until I could breathe normally.
16:15Hannah followed.
16:17You didn't know, she said.
16:19I should have changed that gate code.
16:23You should have been able to trust a locked garage.
16:27Across the pavement, Victoria was demanding a private conversation with Ruiz.
16:33The sheriff refused.
16:36An investigating sergeant from another district arrived.
16:39He reviewed the report, spoke with the deputies, and asked Victoria whether she had any proof of payment or authorization
16:48from me.
16:49She pointed at the donation agreement.
16:53He asked again.
16:55Oleization from Mr. Cole.
16:56Her answer changed three times.
17:00First, Ellie had promised it.
17:03Then I had agreed verbally.
17:05Finally, the HOA possessed authority to remove neglected vehicles.
17:09The sergeant looked toward my enclosed garage in the photographs.
17:14From property outside your association.
17:18Victoria said she wanted an attorney.
17:21The questioning stopped.
17:23That afternoon, she left in a patrol vehicle, while investigators continued, examining the taking of the car and the documents
17:33used to obtain it.
17:34I didn't watch the door close.
17:37I was sitting beside Tyler on the clubhouse steps.
17:41He held his phone between both hands.
17:44Can I show them something?
17:47You don't need my permission.
17:50It's messages from Mom.
17:52His voice broke on the last word.
17:55I remembered being nineteen.
17:58Remembered how long it took to accept that loving somebody didn't make everything they did defensible.
18:05Tell the truth, I said.
18:07You can love her and still tell the truth.
18:10He gave the messages to the sergeant.
18:13They showed Victoria had described the Mustang as purchased, promised, working brakes, and instructed him to tell anyone asking that
18:23it came through an estate sale.
18:25She had also sent him a photograph of the keys three days before the theft.
18:31She had been inside my garage before Thursday.
18:35That discovery changed something in me.
18:39Until then, I had imagined one impulsive decision.
18:43A selfish woman seeing something beautiful and deciding her son deserved it more.
18:48This had taken planning.
18:51She had gone through Ellie's space, found the keys, arranged transport, and prepared a story for her child to repeat.
19:00The Mustang returned home on a flatbed that evening.
19:04Ben supervised every inch.
19:07When it settled inside the garage, Hannah removed the last balloon ribbon from the mirror.
19:13Neither of us spoke for a while.
19:16Then she pointed at the two cold coffees on my workbench.
19:21You still do that?
19:24Sometimes.
19:25She took Ellie's cup and held it.
19:28I call her voicemail, she said, just to hear the greeting.
19:33We stood beside the car and cried without pretending otherwise.
19:38Two days after the theft, a courier brought a settlement proposal to Rachel's office.
19:45Victoria offered to cover the tow bill if I signed a statement describing the incident as a misunderstanding.
19:53There was also a request that I delete my copies of the video.
19:58Rachel read that paragraph aloud.
20:00I looked at the photograph on her desk, her children standing beside, a lopsided birthday cake.
20:08What would you tell a client who brought you this?
20:12That getting property back doesn't erase how it was taken.
20:17I asked her to decline.
20:19That evening, Ben found something beneath the Mustang's passenger seat while checking for transport damage.
20:27A cassette in a cracked plastic case.
20:31Ellie's handwriting covered the label, Road Music.
20:35Nathan is not allowed to skep track three.
20:38I laughed before I could stop myself.
20:42Track three was a song I had complained about for twenty years and secretly learned every word of.
20:49Ben handed me the cassette like it might break.
20:53That's why she can't price this thing, he said.
20:57He meant Victoria.
20:59I turned the case over.
21:02On the back, Ellie had written the date of our last long drive, followed by three words.
21:08Still my favorite.
21:10Maybe she meant the song.
21:12Maybe the car.
21:14Maybe the stubborn man beside her who always claimed he knew a shorter route.
21:19I sat on the garage floor until dark.
21:23For months, I had worried that keeping the Mustang meant refusing to move forward.
21:28Now I understood why losing it had hurt so sharply.
21:33It wasn't a replacement.
21:35For my wife, it was a place where ordinary pieces of her still survived.
21:40A grocery dent.
21:42A ridiculous song.
21:43A sunflower bought at a gas station, because she thought the dashboard looked lonely.
21:49Hannah found me there and sat down without asking me to stand.
21:54We listened to track three on an old player from the workshop.
21:59When the chorus came, she sang first.
22:02Then I joined her, badly, and for one small moment the garage sounded like our family again.
22:09Neither of us skipped anything.
22:11The next weeks were slower than people expect these stories to be.
22:18Investigators collected records.
22:20Lawyers exchanged letters.
22:23Victoria's attorney argued there had been confusion over a charitable contribution.
22:28My attorney, Rachel Kim, answered with my written refusal, the garage footage, the tow records, and the messages.
22:36The HOA management company confirmed that no youth automotive program existed.
22:43Residents learned that association funds had paid for transport, detailing, and the birthday presentation, under a budget entry labeled Community
22:54Outreach.
22:55The board removed Victoria from office after the required meeting and vote.
23:01An independent accountant reviewed the spending she had approved.
23:06Other questionable reimbursements surfaced.
23:09Those records went to investigators separately.
23:13Rachel kept my case focused.
23:15We prove what happened to your car, she said.
23:19We don't need to turn every rumor into a charge.
23:22Months later, Victoria accepted a plea agreement covering the theft and the fraudulent documents supported by the evidence.
23:31The sentence included confinement, followed by supervised probation, restitution, and restrictions required by the court.
23:40Her family name changed nothing, neither did mine.
23:44She was ordered to repay the proven losses, including transport, repairs to my gate and cabinet, and damage caused during
23:53removal.
23:54At sentencing, Tyler asked to speak.
23:57He didn't defend what she had done.
24:00I wanted a car, he said.
24:03I never wanted somebody else's memories.
24:06Victoria stared at the table.
24:08I had waited months to feel satisfaction.
24:11Instead, I felt tired.
24:14The kind of tired that comes when anger finally puts down its luggage.
24:19Outside, Ruiz asked whether I was all right.
24:22Getting there.
24:24She glanced toward the courthouse doors.
24:28I'm sorry you had to see a patrol car at the wrong end of this.
24:33You corrected it.
24:35We checked it, she said.
24:36That's the job.
24:38Ellie would have liked that answer.
24:41Spring arrived before I drove the Mustang again.
24:45Ben finished the repairs, arranged an independent inspection, and refused to accept payment for his extra time.
24:54Hannah chose the destination.
24:57The overlook where Ellie and I had eaten sandwiches on our first road trip.
25:02Before we left, Tyler stopped by with a small envelope.
25:07Inside was a handwritten apology and the money he had earned helping Owen wash tow trucks on weekends.
25:14I returned the cash.
25:16Keep it for your own car.
25:18He looked toward the Mustang.
25:21Would she have hated me?
25:24No, I said.
25:25She would fed you, then made you help clean up.
25:29For the first time, he smiled.
25:32Hannah climbed into the passenger seat.
25:34I clipped Ellie's sunflower back onto the dashboard and turned the key.
25:40The engine settled into that familiar, uneven rumble.
25:44At the gate, I checked both directions.
25:47Hannah rested her hand on the window ledge, exactly where her mother used to.
25:52Ready, Dad.
25:55I looked at the empty road.
25:58Yeah.
26:00Victoria had wanted that car because she thought owning something beautiful made a person important.
26:08Ellie had loved it because it could take the people she loved somewhere together.
26:14That morning, we finally used it her way.
26:17Okay.
26:22Thank you.
26:23Thank you.
26:24Thank you.
26:52Thank you.
26:53Thank you.
27:22Thank you.
27:23Thank you.
27:23Thank you.
27:23شكرا