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."