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Authors: Leslie Caine
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Shannon replied. “Imagine how it’s been for us. It happened in our home, after all.” She peered at my face as though it was smudged. “I should call Ang Chung to come speak with you. He does these Taoist mediation sessions, too, that are nice and relaxing.”
“That’s okay. But, getting back to your problem, frankly, if Pate builds a megastore across the street, there isn’t much Steve and I can do to help you.”
“Short of physically moving your house,” Sullivan muttered under his breath.
Shannon hopped to her feet. “That’s it! We’ll move our whole house! That’s our only hope!”
“Shannon!” Michael scolded. He fired a quick, penetrating glare in Sullivan’s direction. “We can’t afford that!”
As though she hadn’t heard, Shannon paced excitedly around her chocolate leather coffee table and prattled on. “It’s the
perfect
solution. We’ve got lots of acreage to work with. Oh, I wish Ang were here! He’d be able to tell us precisely where we should relocate.”
“But…what happened to stopping Pate’s store from expanding into the Crestview area?” Michael asked his wife. “You’ve been worrying about how the store’s going to suck away all the money from downtown Crestview. That all the shops and galleries will go out of business.”
Sullivan was scanning the newspaper article. “According to this quote, Pate insists that’s a ‘small price to pay’ in exchange for bringing cruddy goods to the town at cheap prices. Claims it’s going to be fabulous for our local economy.”
“It sure won’t be great for our
personal
economy,” Michael said, “no matter whether we move this house or not. Hon, even if we put it on the back corner of our property line, we’re going to have a huge, ugly store, right across the street from us!”
“We can plant a big copse of trees in the front and install a long, meandering driveway through them,” Shannon said promptly. But she plopped down on the sofa with an air of defeat.
“Pate might be bluffing,” Sullivan suggested. “He’ll lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in property value himself. The store would be even closer to his house than to yours, so—”
“Oh, they’ll be bulldozing his house down as well, but he doesn’t care about any of that. He just wants to force me to sell to him. That’s why he’s putting in that hideous porch roof and all sorts of god-awful things. Next he’ll be moving in a trailer. You watch. What does he care? He’s a millionaire many times over. He intends to hang out here in Crestview, till he drains this town dry of every drop of cultural interest and integrity and character. He’s plotting to put a BaseMart auto-repair shop right where we’re
sitting
!” she wailed.
The rustling above our heads was growing more and more distracting. “What’s that noise?” I asked, looking at the ceiling.
“It’s nothing,” Shannon replied. “Those darned raccoons must be back.”
“Raccoons?”
“We’ve had a problem with them off and on for years,” Michael told us. “But
she
doesn’t want me to call the exterminator.” He waggled his thumb at his wife.
“We hardly ever go up there. And it’s not like they bother us. Other than making the occasional scurrying sounds.”
The noise was growing louder. “It sounds as if the whole extended raccoon family must have moved up there,” I pointed out.
“But getting back to my problem, Erin, there has to be
something
we can do…other than moving the house itself. Even Ang says he’s stumped.”
“Shannon, a big store locating across the street is a bit beyond the limitations of what interior design can do for you,” I replied bluntly.
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s going to be a total disaster. Regardless of whether we move the house to the far corner of our property or not, we’ll still be stuck with the entrance road to BaseMart as a dead end, directly in front of our property. You might as well put a cemetery
“That’s okay. But, getting back to your problem, frankly, if Pate builds a megastore across the street, there isn’t much Steve and I can do to help you.”
“Short of physically moving your house,” Sullivan muttered under his breath.
Shannon hopped to her feet. “That’s it! We’ll move our whole house! That’s our only hope!”
“Shannon!” Michael scolded. He fired a quick, penetrating glare in Sullivan’s direction. “We can’t afford that!”
As though she hadn’t heard, Shannon paced excitedly around her chocolate leather coffee table and prattled on. “It’s the
perfect
solution. We’ve got lots of acreage to work with. Oh, I wish Ang were here! He’d be able to tell us precisely where we should relocate.”
“But…what happened to stopping Pate’s store from expanding into the Crestview area?” Michael asked his wife. “You’ve been worrying about how the store’s going to suck away all the money from downtown Crestview. That all the shops and galleries will go out of business.”
Sullivan was scanning the newspaper article. “According to this quote, Pate insists that’s a ‘small price to pay’ in exchange for bringing cruddy goods to the town at cheap prices. Claims it’s going to be fabulous for our local economy.”
“It sure won’t be great for our
personal
economy,” Michael said, “no matter whether we move this house or not. Hon, even if we put it on the back corner of our property line, we’re going to have a huge, ugly store, right across the street from us!”
“We can plant a big copse of trees in the front and install a long, meandering driveway through them,” Shannon said promptly. But she plopped down on the sofa with an air of defeat.
“Pate might be bluffing,” Sullivan suggested. “He’ll lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in property value himself. The store would be even closer to his house than to yours, so—”
“Oh, they’ll be bulldozing his house down as well, but he doesn’t care about any of that. He just wants to force me to sell to him. That’s why he’s putting in that hideous porch roof and all sorts of god-awful things. Next he’ll be moving in a trailer. You watch. What does he care? He’s a millionaire many times over. He intends to hang out here in Crestview, till he drains this town dry of every drop of cultural interest and integrity and character. He’s plotting to put a BaseMart auto-repair shop right where we’re
sitting
!” she wailed.
The rustling above our heads was growing more and more distracting. “What’s that noise?” I asked, looking at the ceiling.
“It’s nothing,” Shannon replied. “Those darned raccoons must be back.”
“Raccoons?”
“We’ve had a problem with them off and on for years,” Michael told us. “But
she
doesn’t want me to call the exterminator.” He waggled his thumb at his wife.
“We hardly ever go up there. And it’s not like they bother us. Other than making the occasional scurrying sounds.”
The noise was growing louder. “It sounds as if the whole extended raccoon family must have moved up there,” I pointed out.
“But getting back to my problem, Erin, there has to be
something
we can do…other than moving the house itself. Even Ang says he’s stumped.”
“Shannon, a big store locating across the street is a bit beyond the limitations of what interior design can do for you,” I replied bluntly.
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s going to be a total disaster. Regardless of whether we move the house to the far corner of our property or not, we’ll still be stuck with the entrance road to BaseMart as a dead end, directly in front of our property. You might as well put a cemetery
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