Chapter 8 - A Building Full of People
Juniper House stood between a laundromat and an old brick church. Its paint had peeled, and the front step still slanted left. I knew that step. I had once sat there holding my mother's hand while she tried to stop shaking.
Keisha let me accompany her for a scheduled visit. I wasn't there to investigate residents. I was there to understand the building Robert called vacant.
In the common room, six children colored paper birds. A woman repaired a broken backpack zipper. Someone had taped a hand-lettered sign to the wall: YOU GET TO START AGAIN.
āForty-one people live in the building,ā Keisha said. āSeventeen are children. The grant paperwork lists twelve.ā
āWhere did the other twenty-nine go on paper?ā
āThat's what we've been asking.ā
She showed me a billing statement with addresses covered. Southgate had charged for packing, transport, and temporary lodging. Yet most of those families still lived here.
A resident named Alma appeared at the doorway. āA moving truck came yesterday. They told us the property was sold.ā
āIt hasn't been approved,ā Keisha said.
āThey said anyone who stayed would owe thousands.ā
I felt my jaw tighten. Robert hadn't merely skimmed grant money. He'd manufactured a crisis to empty the place.
When I told Alma I used to live at Juniper, she looked at me differently.
āDid you make it out okay?ā she asked.
āMostly,ā I said. āAnd I'm still working on the rest.ā
May you like
On our way out, Keisha's assistant handed her an envelope found under the office door. Inside was a printed demolition schedule with Friday circled in black ink. At the bottom, beside the contractor's initials, was a handwritten note:
**Residents must be gone before inspectors arrive.**
