Leaves Read Online Free Page A

the study,” Charles Holley, the owner of The Grill Room, said. “The shop owners on Hickory Avenue are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because visitors can’t find adequate parking during the peak season.”
    â€œThere were some serious problems with that study,” said Susannah Melvoin, owner of Oldham Printing.
    â€œIt’s easy to minimize the problem if you offer your customers pickup and delivery, Susannah,” Will Champion, owner of Paperworks, the local stationery store, said. “It’s a little harder for Carl or Darlene or most of the rest of us around the room to do that.”
    â€œMy shop is entirely dependent on foot traffic,” Maria Muldaur, owner of Fruits of the Kiln said. “If people can’t park, they can’t walk around. And if they can’t walk around, they can’t come into my shop.”
    Maxwell could have predicted the next several exchanges. He noticed Mike Mills, Publisher of the Oldham Post , shaking his head and doodling on the pad in front of him. Clearly, he too understood how ridiculous this debate was.
    â€œWe can’t just make more space on Hickory.”
    â€œYes we can. The town buys Imaginary Friend, razes it, and turns it into a municipal lot.”
    â€œImaginary Friend sits inside a historical building that is more than three hundred years old.”
    â€œAnd three hundred years ago, the town didn’t have a parking problem!”
    â€œA municipal lot right on Hickory Avenue would be an eyesore. Should we commission a study to determine what would happen to our businesses if the town got ugly?”
    It was obviously time for Maxwell to step in. He kept hoping debates such as these would occasionally lead to productive conversation, but they almost never did, and this one was going nowhere. He raised a hand to draw everyone’s attention. “Listen, I know this is an important issue and I also know – as do the rest of you – that if there was an easy solution we would have come with it years ago. We’re running late here. If the board will authorize it, I’ll hire the Bittan Group to prepare a white paper offering alternatives.”
    The motion was raised and approved. Maxwell would call Roy Bittan this afternoon and the paper would be delivered within three months – which wouldn’t prevent the same debate from happening next month, but might at least shorten it a little. Maxwell stood up and went for another cup of coffee while the others filed out of the conference room.
    Mike Mills came up, taking half a cranberry muffin. “No matter how many times I hear that song, it still gets my toes tapping,” he said.
    Maxwell smiled. He’d met Mike when the man was a copyeditor for the paper and Maxwell interned there for a semester while a junior in high school. Even when Maxwell lived in Manhattan and worked on Wall Street, they’d stayed in touch.
    â€œThere were nine times today – I counted them – when I knew what someone was going to say before they said it,” Maxwell said wearily.
    â€œAnd still the meeting ran over by fifteen minutes.”
    â€œI need to make some changes to the way we do things here.”
    â€œYeah, good luck with that. Listen, I have a great tidbit for you.” Mike looked toward the door, which caused Maxwell to look in the same direction. If Mike was checking to make sure the coast was clear, he had something intriguing to say. “It looks like our paper is about to sweep the mayor into a little scandal.”
    Maxwell looked into Mike’s eyes skeptically. Mike was clearly having fun with this. He’d been critical of the mayor since the politician had been nothing more than a local attorney. “Scandal?”
    â€œThe Water Line zoning might have taken a few shortcuts through Mayor Bruce’s office.”
    Maxwell laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    Mike held up a hand.