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“Is Smuckers in charge of this?” I look Henry in the eye. “Right now he is. This guy’s right. A dog is literally in charge of a worldwide development and finance company. Here’s the thing. Smuckers agrees with a lot of you about more green space, not less. He thinks so many buildings are just huge pieces of shit—new ones are the worst. Maybe they win awards, but seriously? Smuckers believes in human- and dog-centered design.”
People laugh. Somebody yells “More fire hydrants!”
“Nobody’s redesigning this project,” Kaleb says. “That’s not happening.”
I turn to Kaleb. “Why can’t we? Smuckers doesn’t understand. Why can’t it be nicer, like a garden?”
I feel Henry’s gaze on me. Not thrilled.
“Because it took a year to design, and that phase is over,” Kaleb protests.
“Smuckers doesn’t understand. If people don’t like it, why not make a new design? Right?”
A few people clap.
“We can’t,” Kaleb says.
The Dartford guys are laughing. I turn to them. Yeah, it’s their turn. “But here’s the thing. Smuckers hates racetracks. He thinks they’re messy and noisy and bring a lot of traffic and are horrible in a residential area, and he knows you guys are going to put it in. I mean, seriously? A racetrack?”
“We’re planning no such thing.”
“Smuckers says that everyone in the building community knows you are. You tried to get one in on Brockton Greens, right? You have partners looking with you. Isn’t that right?”
“I don’t know what ridiculous rumors you’ve heard.”
“Smuckers wants to know if you’d sign a thing right here swearing you wouldn’t ever build a racetrack here.”
Dartford glowers. He is not enjoying the feel of Smuckers’s fluffy paw on his balls. “This is silly.” He reaches for the mic.
I back away with my ear to Smuckers’s mouth. “What is that, Smuckers? You think it’s suspicious they won’t sign a thing like that? I think so, too!” I finally catch Henry’s wary gaze. “Henry, Smuckers wants you to put up that slide of the neighborhood-facing structure.”
“We’re done with that slide,” he says.
“Smuckers wants to see it again,” I say.
“We’ve seen it,” Henry says.
“Smuckers wants it put up.” I raise my eyebrows. Does Henry really want Smuckers to pull rank?
No, as it turns out. Henry puts up the slide.
The Dartford guy protests. He doesn’t want to revisit our project. He just wants the no vote.
“Let’s make it amazing,” I say. “More green, less building. We can do that, right, Henry?”
I can’t read Henry’s expression, but I know he doesn’t like surprises. He doesn’t like the feeling of being bossed. “We can,” he says. “That’s not really the question, though…”
“There are cost issues,” Kaleb says. “With every square foot lost, the cost of the remaining goes up.”
“So what if the cost goes up?” I say. “If it’s cool. Let’s see options. Something will have to go in to replace the factories that are moving out. What does it look like if it’s something better?”
Again Henry catches my gaze. He shakes his head, a tiny movement most people probably don’t catch. I put Smuckers’s fuzzy muzzle up to my face, and Smuckers licks my cheek, and I smile at Henry. Because we’re down this road now and there’s no going back.
Henry grabs his laptop and gets up the picture he showed me—that’s the one I want everyone to see.
I want them to hear him talk to the picture with the passion I heard. I think they would love him if they heard him like I did.
“How about this. We could integrate something like this,” he begins. “This landscape is brown. Imagine it full of greenery and natural light.” He shows them his favorite Australian building. “Look how the natural light flows. And this gathering space. We can do this. We can have this. We’d do benches along here. Greenery.” He goes on, getting excited, pulling people into his vision.
