Chapter 2

"Walter! I must have been cursed in a past life to end up living like this with you!"

All the grievance and resentment Susan had been holding back for so long came pouring out at once.

"Look at Dennis Bradley's family! They bought a color TV last year, and last month they got a phone line put in! And us? What kind of place is this? Is this fit for human beings?"

Walter didn't say a word. He just quietly carried away a washbasin that was almost full, emptied it, and set it back in its place.

His silence only made Susan angrier.

Worse than the poverty, and more suffocating, was the friction with the neighbors and the contempt in their eyes.

Starling Court was an old row-house court, where several households shared a single faucet and a single shared kitchen.

Everyone ran into everyone else all day long, so there was more than the usual share of gossip and quarrels.

Dennis's wife was known throughout the court for being pushy.

Every time Susan wanted to use the shared kitchen to cook something, the woman always found a reason to hog the only gas stove.

"Oh, my soup needs to simmer a little longer, or it won't have any flavor."

"Oh, I'm almost done, just wait a bit."

Susan would wait and wait, until dinnertime had come and gone, and the stove would still be hers.

As for Dennis himself, mocking the Lawsons had become his daily entertainment.

After dinner, he liked to carry a little stool out to the entrance of the court and sit there, waving a palm-leaf fan, loudly reviewing Walter's "brilliant move" for every neighbor who passed by.

"What do you all think? Did Walter read so many books he went soft in the head? Fifty thousand dollars! Even sitting in a bank earning interest, it'd be better off than thrown away on that wreck of an attic!"

Whenever this happened, Walter would take his wife and son by the hand, keep his head down, and hurry up that dark, steep staircase.

Creak. Creak.

The sound of the stairs was like mocking laughter, and also like a sigh. It stayed with them through a whole childhood and a whole youth.

In the blink of an eye, ten years went by.

In 2008, the wave of factory layoffs sweeping the country finally caught up with the machine-tool plant where Walter worked.

He walked away with a severance buyout of a few thousand dollars and became, truly, a man with no job.

The pillar holding up the family had collapsed.

Susan's complaints changed, too, from the occasional outburst into a nagging that went on day after day.

"Walter, look at yourself. No job, no money coming in. If you hadn't insisted on buying this wreck of an attic back then, would we be in this state now?"

Just when the whole family's spirits had hit rock bottom, a rumor blew through Starling Court like the wind.

Their whole area was going to be bought out for redevelopment!

Word was that a big shopping center was going to be built.

The court, which had been quiet for years, was suddenly in an uproar.

Every household was talking about buyout compensation, about how many apartments they might get in the future.

Dennis's place, in particular, became the court's news center and the focus of everyone's attention.

Nobody knew where he'd gotten hold of a photocopy of the planning map, but every day a crowd of neighbors gathered around him to hear him break it down.

"See that? This spot of ours is prime real estate in the commercial plan! The compensation rate can't possibly be low!" Dennis jabbed at the map, spit flying. "My place is about 650 square feet, a proper titled property. When the time comes, getting two apartments plus a million or so in cash will be no problem at all!"

When he finished, he never forgot to cast a sidelong glance at Walter as he walked past the door, and add a snide little remark.

"Ah, what a pity, though. Some people bought an attic with no proper standing at all. Who knows if it even counts as floor space? Wouldn't be an illegal structure, would it? Imagine not getting a cent and then having to pay out of your own pocket to tear it down. Now that would be hilarious!"

The neighbors burst out laughing.

Even with mockery like that, the rumor still kindled a faint spark of hope in Walter's and Susan's hearts.

Maybe... maybe they really could get some compensation money?

Even if it was only a hundred thousand or so, it would be enough for them to leave this godforsaken place and rent somewhere halfway decent.

During that time, Susan complained much less, and now and then there was even a little smile on her face.

But the higher the hope, the harder the fall.

Three months later, the so-called "redevelopment plan" turned out to be nothing but an empty rumor.

The shopping center was going to be built somewhere else.

Life in Starling Court went back to its old "peace and quiet."

The neighbors' disappointment soon turned into even harsher mockery of Walter.

"See? I told you that Walter wasn't born to strike it rich!" Dennis was back at the entrance of the court, waving his palm-leaf fan. "Poor folks should just accept their lot!"

This blow was fatal for Susan.

The little flame in her heart was put out completely.

When she looked at Walter, all that was left in her eyes was a resigned despair.