A novella in 21 chapters
The Plot: Chapter 4
Shine a Light
Leah
‘So there are two factions,’ she explained, as Uschi poured her a glass of pinot grigio, then twisted the cap off her own pale ale. ‘The one lot, let’s call them the Militants, want to fight.’
‘Fight?’
‘Protest. Drape banners on the fence along the main road, hold a demo, stage a sit-in at ConStruct’s head office, probably chain themselves to heavy earthmoving equipment given half a chance. Ray Hughes is their leader.’
‘That conspiracy theory, dude?’
‘That’s the one. Fifteen-minute cities, 5G, chemtrails, you name it. An anti-vaxxer and a sovereign citizen, of course. Climate change denier. The full bingo card.’
‘Na fabelhaft. And the other “lot”?’*
‘The Moderates. Want to negotiate a better outcome, as smooth a transition as possible.’
‘What is there to negotiate?’
‘For starters, two months is no time. It will take at least that long to collect soil samples from the new site, send them to a lab and get the results back. Until that happens, ground can’t be broken at all — we can’t have potentially toxic dust blowing all over the estate, into people’s yards and homes. And if the soil…
