Looking For You All My Life Part 39

this developer is notorious for taking beautiful land parcels

and turning them into some pretty shoddy developments.

'Cheap and sleazy' is how the L.A. Times described them.

Also, he's notorious for cutting corners, using cheap or even

illegal labor and inferior construction materials. Then he

sells most of the units, leaves the place in the hands of bad

management, and moves on."

"Oh, my," said Elizabeth. "That sounds horrible."

"How can you be so sure?" injected Buckie. "What if it's

all just hearsay? Or suppose this developer's being slandered

by his compet.i.tion? And don't forget how Rick and Greg

*were so opposed to bad development last summer. Surely

*they won't let their very own property turn into the kind of

mess you just described."

"The only reason those boys ever opposed development

last summer was to protect their little scheme with Arnold

Westerly," Clyde blurted out. "Everyone knows it was

already in the works, and they didn't want anyone coming

in here with more money and cutting them out. It's no secret

they stole that land from Arnold."

"They stdle land?" asked Michael with wide eyes.

"Not really," Jed quickly explained. "They just didn't pay

the old guy what it was truly worth. In a sense, they cheated

him."

*"He signed the papers of his own free will," argued

Buckie. "No one forced his hand."

Maggie pressed her lips together, slowly stood, and qui-

etly began to clear the plates from the table while the others

continued to discuss this controversial topic. Afraid she

wouldn't be able to control her tongue if she sat there for

*another moment, she hoped to make a quick escape to the

kitchen.

Looking for You All My Life67

"We have some wonderful desserts still waiting,"

announced Audrey loudly so as to be heard above the banter

at the table. Maggie silently blessed her mother for her

attempt to change the subject.

"Perhaps we should all get up and move around a little,"

suggested Abigail. "Otherwise I won't have any room for

dessert. And I saw some beautiful pumpkin pies cooling on

the back porch that I'm dying to sink my teeth into."

Back in the kitchen, Maggie planted herself in front of the

sink and began rinsing dishes. "Don't let it get to you," whis-

pered Jed as he placed a stack of plates at her elbow. "You

know how Buckie loves to stir up controversy. He's just

playing devil's advocate."

She sighed and continued rinsing. "I hope you're right."

Then Leah stepped up. "Jed is right," she said, patting

Maggie's back in a comforting way. "You know how Buckie

can be when he gets going on something. Sometimes you just

have to ignore him."