Chapter 15: The Wall

The bulldozer arrived at Pinecrest at seven on Friday morning, on the back of a flatbed.

A Market Desk van parked behind it with its mast already up.

Dani stood on the gravel road in her work boots with Glenn beside her.

Her mother stood in front of her own door in a faded blue robe, with her arms crossed.

Next to her stood the old man from lot fourteen, with his oxygen tank on a little cart.

Next to him stood the two sisters from the double-wide, in curlers.

Then came the man from the end lot, and a woman with a baby on her hip, and a teenager in a hoodie.

Within five minutes there were forty people on the road.

They did not shout.

They stood shoulder to shoulder across the gravel, and the bulldozer driver looked at them and turned off his engine.

A deputy climbed down from a patrol car with a folded paper.

"Ma'am," he said to Dani's mother, "I have a court order of possession."

"I know what you have," her mother said. "I can read."

"I'm sorry. I have to ask you to clear the road."

"No."

Tatum Kensley got out of a gray sedan.

She wore a cream coat and a bright, sorry smile, and she carried a leather folio against her chest.

"Good morning, everyone," she said to the camera, and to the road.

"This is a hard day. Halloway Systems has an obligation to its shareholders, and we're making this as humane as we can."

"Humane," the old man from lot fourteen said, through his oxygen tube. "She's got a bulldozer."

Somebody laughed.

Tatum's smile stayed exactly where it was.

She saw Dani and her face did a small, quick thing.

"Dani," she said warmly. "I hate this. I told Preston you should have been warned."

"You nailed a paper to my mother's door."

"The sheriff did."

"You signed the sale," Dani said.

The camera turned.

"The closing papers say Rainier Holdings bought this land last Friday."

She said the next part loud enough for the road.