Гвен Купер - Love Saves The Day

“She’s perfect.” Laura’s voice is more serious when she says, “We almost lost her. Someone was looking out for us.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Perry stands up straight so that he’s looking at Laura again. “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, Grow, grow.”

Laura’s eyes look shiny, and without warning she reaches out to put her arms around him. “Thank you, Perry,” she says in a choked-sounding voice. “For everything.”

He puts his arms around her, too. “You can always call me. If you change your mind about coming back to us, or if there’s anything else you ever need. You know that, right?”

Laura takes a step back and nods. Perry kisses her once on the forehead, and then he leaves.

Laura has been more tired than usual in the mornings because she doesn’t drink coffee anymore. But she seems alert at breakfast this morning when she tells Josh, “I have a meeting this afternoon with the attorneys representing all the different sides in this thing. I’m hoping we’ll be able to start formal negotiations.”

Josh looks startled as he puts his cup of coffee down next to his plate of toast. “Are we at that point already?”

“Well …” She rests one hand on the stack of papers she was reading while Josh made his toast. “I have a complete list from the tenants of every unaddressed maintenance and repair issue. There are about two hundred, actually.” She makes a face. “And I’ve noted every statutory regulation that would be violated by the proposed deal between the landlord and the development corporation wanting to buy the property. Mostly because the regulations are so contradictory that nobody could be in compliance with all of them.” She rubs the corners of her eyes beneath her reading glasses with the thumb and first finger of her right hand. “Honestly, I don’t know who writes this stuff. Luckily for us, though, all the confusion works in our favor. You said the property’s been assessed at seven and a half million and that the tenants have raised ten through grants and loans?” Josh nods. “The development corporation’s offering fifteen. We’ll offer eight and try to convince all parties that a prolonged legal battle would be more painful and expensive than the property’s worth.”

Josh pushes his plate of toast away, then puts a piece on the floor so I can lick the butter from its top. “So you’re saying this could all be settled today?”

Laura makes a pfft sound. “No. We just want to get the ball rolling and show them how serious we are about fighting this thing. We’ll let the landlord talk us up to ten million if we have to. Hopefully either the development corporation will drop their bid or the landlord will decide it’s better to take our ten million now than spend months or years fighting for the development corporation’s fifteen.”

Josh still looks doubtful. “What about a DHCR hearing? The City paid for ninety-five percent of that building. Technically they get a say in whether or not it’s converted out of the Mitchell-Lama program.”

“They do have the right to a say in it, and as a matter of principle maybe they should exercise that right more often,” Laura says. “But as a matter of practice, they generally don’t. The problem with a hearing is that it’s a one-shot, yes-or-no thing. And if our side gets the no , it’s game over.” She pauses to take a sip from her glass of orange juice. When she starts talking again, her voice is gentle. “I know you have this romantic idea of a big hearing and cheering crowds, but realistically a compromise is nearly always the best solution. The landlord gets more than the property’s technically worth, the tenants gain all the rights and privileges of ownership, the community gets to retain affordable housing along with the programs and services the music studio offers. This would be a good thing for everybody.”

Josh stands up to dump the rest of his toast in the trash and give me a nibble of cheese from the package on the counter. “You’re right,” he tells Laura. “I guess I’ve been working on this so hard for the past few months, it’s hard to think of my part in it being over.”

Laura looks surprised. “But it’s not! It’s more important now than ever for you to keep up the pressure on the publicity front. That’s what’ll convince the landlord he might lose at a hearing if he were to turn us down flat and walk away from the table. Every news camera and article in the paper is one more reason for him to question the strength of his position.”

I never knew that a human you actually know could end up on TV. But a week after Anise came over to visit us, there she was on our TV set, along with a bunch of other humans who Josh said were famous musicians. They were in a room with no windows and lots of musical instruments, and Josh and Laura were there, too! They were standing in the background, while a man with a microphone talked to Anise and some other people. Laura and Josh were already home when the show came on, and it was weird to see them here in the room with me and also tiny versions of them on the TV screen at the same time.

After that the phone rang constantly for weeks. People were calling Josh to talk about doing more TV shows and newspaper word-writing about the building, and the people who own the building were calling Laura to talk about what they should do with it. Laura was hardly at home at all those few weeks, because she was always out at meetings with the humans who live there and with other lawyers. Finally one day she came home with the news that the negotiating was over. She was still taking off her coat and hanging it in the front closet when Josh came down the stairs with an anxious look on his face. “Well?” he asked.

“It’s done.” Laura’s voice was very serious, and Josh’s face went white. “The owner’s willing to take nine from the tenants’ association. The developer dropped his bid. The lawyer for the tenants’ association and I have to get some paperwork going to make it official, but …” The smile on Laura’s face was wider than just about any smile I’ve ever seen. “It’s over.”

Josh made a loud whoop sound and grabbed her in a hug so big it nearly lifted her off the ground. I don’t think Laura likes being lifted off the ground any more than I do, because she almost lost her balance and swatted at Josh’s shoulder a couple of times until he put her down. “We did it!” Josh yelled.

“ You did it,” Laura answered. “The tenants’ association did it. I just kind of swooped in at the very end.” The way she says this makes me imagine her with a pair of wings, circling in the sky like a pigeon. I don’t think that’s what she really means, though, even though it’s what she said.

The two of them went to a party that night that the people who live in that building threw to celebrate, and they’re still celebrating now a week later when Josh’s parents and sister come over with the littermates for another special holiday dinner. Josh spent two whole days cooking a huge turkey, and by the time his family gets here I think I’ll go crazy if somebody doesn’t give me some of that turkey right away. It’s unbearable to watch Laura and Josh talk to everybody and pour drinks and bring out little plates of smaller foods as if there wasn’t a whole turkey sitting in the oven just waiting for someone to eat it! I make it my job to stand in front of the oven and meow at everybody until they remember the most important part of the day. Once everybody is (finally) sitting down to eat, they all go around the table to say what they’re thankful for. I’m thankful that this time they put some turkey and other foods on a little plate for me before everybody sat down.