council chambers.'
'Sorry, your honor.' Hargrove looked embarrassed.
'Look,' Bill said. 'If Ted Turner or Bill Gates or some other billionaire bought exactly that same land, decided to protect it and put up a big fence around it, leaving it as is, you'd have no problem with it. Why is it okay for an individual to save land for himself but not okay for the government to save land for future generations? Two hundred years ago, there were only thirteen little colonies on the east coast of our country. Now we have chain stores in Juniper! If things continue at this rate, our great-grandchildren will be living in a world like _Soylent Green_ or _Silent Running_!'
'_Soylent Green_.' Hargrove grinned. 'Good movie.'
'That's not the point. We need to think about the future --'
'Mr. Davis,' the mayor said. 'I think we've had enough discussion on this subject. I appreciate your concern, but I think you're starting to get a little melodramatic. The world is not going to end because The Store is coming to Juniper. What will happen is that we'll have more jobs and a better place to shop. Period. I think you should both sit down.' He looked out at the sparsely populated auditorium. 'If anyone else has anything to add on this subject or has anything else to bring up, please step forward to the podium.'
Bill walked back to his seat, slumped into the chair next to Ben.
'Game over,' the editor said. 'Davis zip. Store takes it in straight sets.'
Bill looked over at his friend. 'Thanks.'
He drove home angry, feeling depressed. The mayor had been right. He _had_ been melodramatic, and that asshole Hargrove had gotten him off on a tangent and his whole argument had gotten derailed. He thought again that he should've written everything out ahead of time and read it.
But it was too late now. The damage was done.
The front of the house was dark when he arrived home. He let himself in, checked on the girls. Sam was in her room, studying. Shannon was on the phone.
He told them both to go to sleep early, it was a school night, then walked back to the master bedroom where Ginny was riding the exercise bike and watching TV.
'How'd it go?' she asked. 'Did you stop construction and get The Store to rebuild the hillside and replant the trees?'
He sat down on the side of the bed, took off his shoes. 'There's no reason to be sarcastic.'
'Sorry.' She stopped pedaling. 'So what happened?'
'What do you think? Nothing. The council's bending and spreading 'em for The Store.' He shook his head. 'They're so shortsighted. They're willing to ruin a way of life for short-term economic gain.'
'Then why don't you run for council?' Ginny said. 'Why don't you stop complaining to me and get out and do something about it?'
'I might do just that.'
Ginny got off the bike, walked over to the bed, and sat down next to him.
'It's not the end of the world, you know. Don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit?'
He smiled wryly. 'That's just what our fair mayor said.'
'Things change. Yes, The Store tore down trees and everything -- and they shouldn't have done it -- but I heard that they also bought that vacant lot next to the old Checker Auto and they're going to make it into a baseball diamond.
They're trying to do something for the town.'
'You're missing the point.'
'What is the point?'
'Never mind.'
'Never mind? You want to --'
'I'm all talked out,' he said. 'I've been talking all night. I just want to go to bed.' He stood, took off his pants.
She watched him for a moment. 'Fine,' she said, and there was an angry tightness in her voice. 'That's just fine.'
They slept apart, not touching, on opposite sides of the bed.
He fell sleep almost instantly.
He dreamed of dead animals and dead bodies and the unending construction of a black building that reached miles into a polluted sky.
FOUR
1
Shannon sat at one of the tables outside George's Hamburgers, nursing a Coke and trying to read her history textbook. Jake was supposed to have met her here after school, but it had already been a half hour and he hadn't shown and she was starting to get restless.
She finally closed her book, giving up all pretext of studying. She stared across the street at the grassy lawn of the park and the dark pines of the forest beyond. Above the trees, the mountains were capped with irregular slices of white. The snow had not yet dropped below the timberline, but despite the sunny days of the past week, it had not melted off the peaks, and it was only a matter of time before winter arrived in full force.
The snow on the mountains reminded her of the Alps, and the Alps reminded her of _The Sound of Music_, and she found herself thinking of the oldest daughter and her boyfriend in the movie. The boyfriend was a mailman or something and he would pretend to deliver letters in order to secretly meet with the girl. Shannon had always found that relationship very romantic and very sexy. Especially when the daughter sang 'Sixteen, Going On Seventeen.' There was something sensual in the way she danced in the gazebo, in the sly expression on her face as she twirled for the boy, letting her dress fly up, letting him see her underwear. She seemed so much older than he did at that moment, so much more experienced.
She liked that.
She liked to think that was the sort of relationship she and Jake had, but she knew that wasn't the case. Jake had had several girlfriends before her, whereas he was the first boy she'd ever held hands with, ever kissed, ever . . . done anything with.
It worried her a little that he'd had other girlfriends. He'd assured her that nothing had gone beyond the hand-holding stage -- and she chose to believe him about that -- but he had no doubt told each of them that he loved them and that they'd be together forever.
The same things he told her.
Which meant that he could leave her the same way he'd left them.
If he found someone better.
That scared her. She'd seen him looking at her sister when he thought she wasn't watching, and though she told herself it didn't mean anything, was just a natural response, it still hurt. She knew that if he had been allowed to choose between the two of them, he would probably have taken Sam. Of course, who wouldn't prefer Sam? Her sister was prettier than she was, smarter. She'd be any boy's first choice.
She didn't blame Sam, though. If anything, she blamed Jake, although that was not something she'd ever admit to or bring up with him. But Shannon did not hate her sister. Sure, she was jealous sometimes, but she admired her sister more than resented her. She wished she herself was more like Sam, but she didn't blame her sister for that.
Some people just got lucky.
Some people didn't.
She herself had gotten a little bit lucky this time. She wasn't pregnant.
Her period had come today during Algebra, and she'd never felt as relieved as she did when the cramps started.
Which was why she was so anxious for Jake to show up.
Where was he?
She glanced up and down the block, saw him come out of the grocery store across the street, eating a candy bar. He saw her, waved, but made no effort to hurry across the parking lot. She wanted to run over to him, tell him the good news, but something about his unhurried, nonchalant attitude annoyed her, and she remained at her table,
