Page 4 of Phoenix Fire

Jason stood and stretched, taking in a long gulp of refrigerated air, trying to shake his somnolent mood. He took a final look out the window toward the McDowell Mountains, sighed, and prepared the papers on his desk for reference in his discussion with Phil Langley.

The dark paneled door opened and a smiling Phil Langley came in with his hand extended. He was a tall, sturdy man with a bronze face framed in a pure white coiffured elegance. His presence in the luxurious suite further brightened the atmosphere.

“Hi, Jason, good to see you.” Langley looked out the broad window and added, “We should be having this meeting outside, my man. The weather is awesome.”

The two men sat and easily traded pleasant chatter. They were long standing acquaintances who had not taken time from their busy lives to form a friendship. They were comfortable with each other and never suffered any negative setbacks in their enduring relationship. Though it would have been a natural extension of their business bond, they simply never socialized, other than a working lunch here and there. The essential elements were there,mutual respect, trust, and an inherent fondness.

“Are we ready to crunch some numbers on ‘Apple Brown Betty?’” Jason finally asked, using the project name upon which each had previously agreed. The project name was Jason’s idea, so called because it was a dessert menu item at one of his favorite downtown restaurants.

“We’re close. Just need to factor in the landscaping, and I’m still waiting on figures from Antigua, Ltd. Some of those old Spanish décor items you want are not only scarce but they’re going to be expensive as hell. But I know you want them, and we’re going to get them.”

“How about the water treatment? Will we be able to modify those washes?”

“That won’t be a problem. We do have a small citizens’ group fighting us about some land use issues.”

“What can they want? We’re not harming the environment. Hell, I want to use the land as it is, without ripping out cacti and native trees. All we’re doing is trimming back some of the Palo Verde trees, the ironwoods, thinning out some of the wild brush. Nobody is more conscious that I am about the desert and its preservation. We’re building around the natural environment and we’re supplying a great need out there. It figures someone would start some sort of bullshit. Some people just can’t be happy unless they’re bitching about something. Problems of ecology and environment were never to come up in this project. We planned it all too carefully for there to be any problems. Who are these people? Do we know?”

“Sure, we know who they are. I’ve talked to a few of them.”

“You going to be able to satisfy them?”

“They’re just pest factors. We already have the council votes, so these people will soon fade away. They’ll get a little press time. As you know, the newspapers play up to this kind of crapola. But I do know how you feel. You want everyone to see the beauty of this project. It just doesn’t work out that way. But, look, we’re fine. Not to worry.”

“So when do we crunch numbers? The bank is waiting.”

“For the exact figures we’re probably looking at Friday. You want me to talk to Ewing at the bank?”

“No, I’ll handle it. Are those the final elevations you have with you?”

“Yes. They came out really neat.” Langley removed the heavy rubber band from the thick roll of architectural drawings and began spreading them across the round conference table.

The two men spent another hour going over the drawings, comparing, sorting among the various stacks of papers on the table.

‘Apple Brown Betty’ was an enormous undertaking that occupied Jason’s business mind for years. The idea actually came from his grandmother Wimsley, to develop a quaint, small Mexican-style village, complete with shops, office buildings, restaurants, houses, school, church, park, all on a large plot of family owned land between Phoenix and Casa Grande.

The grand plan evolved through the years, undergoing many changes and revisions. Many influential and financially healed people were drawn into a consortium of sorts until the project was now very close to becoming a reality. Most of the tedious planning details were overseen by Jason and he looked upon ‘Apple Brown Betty’ as his life’s work. All of his real estate holdings accumulated over the years made him a very wealthy man, but this project would become his personal denouement, his swan song, his ultimate gift to a grandmother who gave him so very much.

It would take a projected five years to complete ‘Apple Brown Betty’ once ground was initially broken. Jason would be approaching age forty-five. He wanted so very much to see it completed while his grandmother was still alive. He saw this strong lady as indomitable and ageless. He seldom thought of her dying. In his mind she would live forever. The ‘Apple Brown Betty’ project would make it so.

When Phil Langley left his office a little before 5:00 PM, Jason began immediately to think about his date with Jenny. This was in itself unusual because, normally, after a meeting on ‘Apple Brown Betty,’ he dwelled lovingly on thoughts of the project, envisioned its completion, saw children playing in the park, diners in the restaurants. These thoughts did not linger this day.

What was the significance of this woman? He knew many women in his life, before and after his prolonged ten-year affair. Some he liked and they were remembered fondly. Others, not so much. He always pulled away from a relationship when it became too sticky, when he felt the woman getting too close to him. The long ten-year affair was punctuated with breaks along the way because there was a tacit agreement there would be no marriage. It was a pleasant enough arrangement where either one of them could live basically his or her own life. The arrangement had simply uncomplicated their social activities, until, or course, it, too, ran its course.

He never confronted himself about his retreats from women. Even in his one long affair he retreated time and again. He had an incipient thought that he might have to confront himself with Jenny Mason.

Was it the dramatic way in which they met that had him thinking differently about Jenny? Was there something that was conveyed to him on that rain-soaked day while he kept pressing his mouth over hers? Was it the first look into those beautiful and frightened blue eyes?

Jason shrugged, stood from his desk, and looked again out his office window. The distant mountains had lost their hazy shrouds. They now had a coppery clarity and dimensional depth.

He did not know the reasons for his intense and lofty feelings for Jenny Mason. He only knew he had the feelings and he accepted them. Whether fate, serendipity, or some newly born need within him, he was hungrily anticipating his evening.

Even the compelling hold which ‘Apple Brown Betty’ normally had on him was diminished. Perhaps some of that lightning struck him as well.

Nora was surprised to see Jason leaving the office before she left, and there was something different about his eyes. They seemed glittery with expectation. His smile was almost a guilty glee. “Hmm,” she thought after he said goodbye and closed the door behind him, “he’s met a woman, and he could be in a whole lot of trouble.”

Nora Hadley, a handsome lady, fiftyish, stylish, in Jason Prince’s employ for ten years, and wise beyond her time, knew more about the man than he knew about himself. The eyes and the set of the mouth could be the signs of love.

Nora smiled and spoke aloud to the empty reception area: “I hope it’s love. He deserves it.”

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