that’s doing it.”
“Greed! I live here in three rooms, nice ones, yes, but I buy almost nothing for myself, everything else goes into my project, and you call me ‘greedy’?”
“Maybe you’re greedy for admiration. Why must your project be so grandiose?”
“ ‘Grandiose’! Nice talk from a brother. I had thought you’d stand up for me, not against me.”
“Don’t be foolish. I am not against you.” Dan sighed again; his patience was going. “God almighty!” he exclaimed. “Between you who want to buy a piece of California that you can’t afford, and Ian who wants to sell a piece of New York State that’s been in the family for the last two centuries, I’m about to lose my marbles.”
“Ian wants to sell?”
“Oh, he’s gotten involved with some foreign group that wants a few thousand acres of Grey’s Woods to build a new city. It’s wanton destruction, all to fill their pockets with money they don’t need.”
“Who are you to tell people what they need or don’t need? Personally, I don’t think it’s such a bad idea, assuming there’d be enough to take care of
my
needs.”
“Oh, yes.” Dan sounded bitter. “More than enough, I’d say.”
“Well, then I hope it goes through.”
“Streets and houses in a historic forest. Trees gone, habitat gone. Land that should go untouched to the state, to the public. I expected better of you, Amanda.”
“You may be concerned with deer and foxes or with trees, but I’m concerned about people.”
“You may have a different aim from Ian’s, but just now you sound like him, though it hurts me to say it.”
“So Ian and I have something in common! It looks as if, for different reasons, we’re on the same side, he and I.”
“With Clive and me holding the truncated tail of a great enterprise.”
“And a trunkful of cash, you’re forgetting.”
“That we don’t want, you’re forgetting. No,” Dan repeated, “I never expected this from you. Never.”
“It’s nothing I’d choose, believe me, but I have to look out for myself. If you don’t look out foryour wants in this world, it’s a sure thing nobody else will, Dan.”
“I don’t agree with that at all.”
“Let me tell you—”
“Let’s talk another time, Amanda, may we?”
“Okay, I’m not pressing. The property I want is part of an estate, and it’ll be months before it’s settled. I’ve got an option on it till then. So I can wait for whatever happens on your end. As long as I get what I want, I don’t care how it’s done.”
“You’ll really have to excuse me, Amanda. Good night,” Dan said.
When she hung up, Todd came back to the room.
“Did you listen?” she asked.
“I told you I wasn’t going to. Do you really think I would do that without his knowing?”
“Sorry, I didn’t think. Sometimes I don’t think. Dan’s probably furious with me. I truly didn’t want to quarrel with my brother, and the child was carrying on—”
“For a person who didn’t want to quarrel, you did a thorough job. I couldn’t help but hear your end of the conversation, and it was pretty sharp.”
Rebuked, she felt the sting of two immediate tears on either side of her nose. Seeing them, Todd put his arms around her.
“I hate to see you this way. You’ve let that thing take hold of you and almost strangle you. It’s not worth it,” he said gently, smoothing the back of her head. “And if you destroy that business, you’ll really be strangled, especially if—I heard yousay something about ‘Ian,’ and I don’t know who he is—you take sides in whatever’s going on there back east. You’re not making sense, Amanda. You have cut yourself off from those people of yours, and you may end up losing your income, too.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” she mumbled.
“I know that you, for no matter how noble a reason, want something you can’t afford. Be sensible. Don’t be the odd man out. That’s sad.”
“Odd woman out, you
“Greed! I live here in three rooms, nice ones, yes, but I buy almost nothing for myself, everything else goes into my project, and you call me ‘greedy’?”
“Maybe you’re greedy for admiration. Why must your project be so grandiose?”
“ ‘Grandiose’! Nice talk from a brother. I had thought you’d stand up for me, not against me.”
“Don’t be foolish. I am not against you.” Dan sighed again; his patience was going. “God almighty!” he exclaimed. “Between you who want to buy a piece of California that you can’t afford, and Ian who wants to sell a piece of New York State that’s been in the family for the last two centuries, I’m about to lose my marbles.”
“Ian wants to sell?”
“Oh, he’s gotten involved with some foreign group that wants a few thousand acres of Grey’s Woods to build a new city. It’s wanton destruction, all to fill their pockets with money they don’t need.”
“Who are you to tell people what they need or don’t need? Personally, I don’t think it’s such a bad idea, assuming there’d be enough to take care of
my
needs.”
“Oh, yes.” Dan sounded bitter. “More than enough, I’d say.”
“Well, then I hope it goes through.”
“Streets and houses in a historic forest. Trees gone, habitat gone. Land that should go untouched to the state, to the public. I expected better of you, Amanda.”
“You may be concerned with deer and foxes or with trees, but I’m concerned about people.”
“You may have a different aim from Ian’s, but just now you sound like him, though it hurts me to say it.”
“So Ian and I have something in common! It looks as if, for different reasons, we’re on the same side, he and I.”
“With Clive and me holding the truncated tail of a great enterprise.”
“And a trunkful of cash, you’re forgetting.”
“That we don’t want, you’re forgetting. No,” Dan repeated, “I never expected this from you. Never.”
“It’s nothing I’d choose, believe me, but I have to look out for myself. If you don’t look out foryour wants in this world, it’s a sure thing nobody else will, Dan.”
“I don’t agree with that at all.”
“Let me tell you—”
“Let’s talk another time, Amanda, may we?”
“Okay, I’m not pressing. The property I want is part of an estate, and it’ll be months before it’s settled. I’ve got an option on it till then. So I can wait for whatever happens on your end. As long as I get what I want, I don’t care how it’s done.”
“You’ll really have to excuse me, Amanda. Good night,” Dan said.
When she hung up, Todd came back to the room.
“Did you listen?” she asked.
“I told you I wasn’t going to. Do you really think I would do that without his knowing?”
“Sorry, I didn’t think. Sometimes I don’t think. Dan’s probably furious with me. I truly didn’t want to quarrel with my brother, and the child was carrying on—”
“For a person who didn’t want to quarrel, you did a thorough job. I couldn’t help but hear your end of the conversation, and it was pretty sharp.”
Rebuked, she felt the sting of two immediate tears on either side of her nose. Seeing them, Todd put his arms around her.
“I hate to see you this way. You’ve let that thing take hold of you and almost strangle you. It’s not worth it,” he said gently, smoothing the back of her head. “And if you destroy that business, you’ll really be strangled, especially if—I heard yousay something about ‘Ian,’ and I don’t know who he is—you take sides in whatever’s going on there back east. You’re not making sense, Amanda. You have cut yourself off from those people of yours, and you may end up losing your income, too.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” she mumbled.
“I know that you, for no matter how noble a reason, want something you can’t afford. Be sensible. Don’t be the odd man out. That’s sad.”
“Odd woman out, you
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