Part 5
Arthur took the empty chair beside her.
When the clerk called the Juniper Street item, Gloria carried the residents’ parcel chart to the lectern. Eight addresses appeared on it. Five owners intended to stay, two were undecided, and one landlord had accepted Redwood’s offer. Beside each house were its occupancy status, the owner’s stated choice, and any current inspection findings. No blue crosshatch covered the differences.
Before Arthur spoke, Benjamin Danner challenged his credibility. “Mr. Mercer now admits that he signed ratings without inspecting the properties,” he said. “The archive confirms his signature, not the reliability of his memory.”
“No one is asking you to rely on his memory,” Maya said when her turn came. “Nora Feld inspected every participating house.”
She placed Redwood’s appraisal authorization beside Gloria’s parcel chart.
“Redwood marked me as negotiating because I signed this,” Maya said. “Gloria found out when the updated table went online. That part was mine. The phone photograph was mine too, and I lost my cleaning job over it. My mistakes don’t give Redwood my lot, and they don’t make Nora Feld’s reports less current.”
Arthur stood with both palms on the table in front of him.
“The 1996 report and the 1998 amendment are both in the packet,” he said. “I signed both. The first came from inspections. Three ratings on the second one did not.”
Nora summarized her structural inspections and follow-up addenda. None of the five homes required structural clearance or demolition. Housing staff then confirmed that, after the completed trade work and accepted repair schedules, no vacate order was required while those schedules were met.
Danner opened a utility exhibit. “Removing these lots moves the entrance and water main west, cuts forty-six apartments, and takes away the loading access the grocery tenant requested. Redwood can redesign, but it is not the same project.”
Celia Raines presented the planning commission’s recommendation. “Keep the mill phase in the incentive schedule. Remove Phase Two unless Redwood submits signed site control for every parcel it adds back. The code orders continue on their own timelines.”
A councilmember made the motion. It passed four to one, and staff struck Phase Two from the incentive exhibit before adjournment.
Maya felt Gloria’s hand close around hers after the vote. Arthur remained seated, looking at the floor.
Outside, Danner caught up with Maya near the steps. “We received your withdrawal. Once the entrance moves, Redwood won’t need your corner. If you decide to sell later, it won’t be the same number.”
“I understood that when I sent it.”
“You’ll still have a construction fence behind Gloria’s yard.”
“Then send her the work schedule before you move the bus stop.”
Arthur walked with her as far as the bus shelter. Rain had started again, lighter than on the night he came to Juniper.
“The church room is mine through summer,” he said. “After that, they may have a senior unit.”
Arthur nodded toward the street. “June asked if I was coming for the fox book on Saturday.”
“Are you?”
“If you say I may.”
Maya watched the bus turn at the far intersection. “Three o’clock. If you can’t come, you call before two. You don’t make her find an empty couch.”
“Three o’clock,” Arthur said.
Six months after the night on the porch, Redwood had submitted a smaller plan confined to the mill, its parking lots, and parcels whose owners had signed sales. Construction fencing went up around that land, while mail still came to five occupied houses east of it. Maya’s mortgage servicer approved a trial repayment plan whose payment took most of one diner paycheck and part of the next week’s tips.
Arthur moved into a subsidized senior apartment on the bus line after outreach workers helped him restore access to his Social Security payments. Maya agreed to be his emergency contact and kept his spare key in the kitchen drawer. On the first cool, rainy Wednesday of fall, he came for supper carrying a loaf of discount bread, knocked once at the screened door, and waited until Maya let him in.
They ate soup while June described a disagreement at school involving a glue stick and a paper moon. Halfway through, a drop struck the sink.
June looked toward the sink. “It’s counting again.”
Arthur glanced at the pantry where Andre’s red toolbox sat, but kept his hands beside his bowl. Maya closed the under-sink shutoff herself, brought out the adjustable wrench, and laid a dish towel beside the faucet.
“The valve seat?” she asked.
“Most likely.”
“Show me how to get to it.”
June fetched the flashlight and aimed it at the pipes below the sink.
“Up here,” Arthur said.
Maya removed the handle and lifted it free. When the beam found the bonnet nut, Arthur kept his hands clear while Maya fitted the wrench around it.