Good Neighbors(4)

With rod-straight posture and a cement smile, Gertie watched her disappear into the crowd. The party continued. And it was stupid. Pregnancy hormones. But she had to trace her index fingers along her under-eyes to keep the mascara from running.

That’s when it happened.

The music cut to static. The earth rocked. Linda’s red-checked picnic table with all those burgers started to shake. Gertie felt the vibrations from her feet to her teeth.

Early fireworks?… Earthquake?… Shooter?

There wasn’t time to find out. Gertie did a quick take of the park; met Arlo’s eyes. They fast-walked to the kids from opposite directions. Like magnets, the four snapped together.

“Street?” Gertie asked.

“Home!” Arlo shouted.

They hoofed it, running along the thick clovers and dandelions, past the trampoline and hem of pudding stone that bordered the park. With her pregnancy and bad feet, Gertie brought up the rear.

She didn’t see the sinkhole as it opened. Only watched later, from the footage people captured with their phones. What she noticed most was how hungry it seemed. The picnic table and all those burgers fell inside. The barbeque followed. Ralph the German shepherd got away from Fred and Bethany, banking the sinkhole’s lips as they swelled.

A surprised yelp, and Ralph was gone.

By the time Gertie looked back, the hole had reached an uneasy peace with Maple Street. It had stopped growing, leaving just the people. Some had run, some had stayed frozen. Some had even hastened toward that widening gyre, their instincts all messed up.

And then there was Rhea Schroeder. In the stillness, she didn’t turn to her family, whom she’d deftly rescued and corralled to the far side of the sinkhole. She didn’t pet their hair or check in with her spouse like so many others did. She didn’t cry or gawk or take out her phone. No.

She looked straight at Gertie, and bared her teeth.

Between them, a gritty smoke rose up. It carried with it the chemical scent of something unearthed.





SLIP ’N SLIDE


July 5–9





Map of Maple Street as of July 5, 2027

*116 Wilde Family

*118 Schroeder Family





INDEX OF MAPLE STREET’S PERMANENT RESIDENTS AS OF JULY 5, 2027





100 The Gradys—Lenora (47), Mike (45), Kipp (11), Larry (10)

102 VACANT

104 The Singhs-Kaurs—Sai (47), Nikita (36), Pranav (16), Michelle (14), Sam (13), Sarah (9), John (7)

106 The Pulleyns—Brenda (38), Dan (37), Wallace (8), Roger (6)

108 VACANT

110 The Hestias—Rich (51), Cat (48), Helen (17), Lainee (14)

112 VACANT

114 The Walshes—Sally (49), Margie (46), Charlie (13)

116 The Wildes—Arlo (39), Gertie (31), Julia (12), Larry (8)

118 The Schroeders—Fritz (62), Rhea (53), FJ (19), Shelly (13), Ella (9)

120 The Benchleys—Robert (78), Kate (74), Peter (39)

122 The Cheons—Christina (44), Michael (42), Madison (10)

124 The Harrisons—Timothy (46), Jane (45), Adam (16), Dave (14)

126 The Pontis—Steven (52), Jill (48), Marco (20), Richard (16)

128 The Ottomanellis—Dominick (44), Linda (44), Mark (12), Michael (12)

130 The Atlases—Bethany (37), Fred (30)

132 The Simpsons—Daniel (33), Ellis (33), Kaylee (2), Michelle (2), Lauren (2)

134 The Caliers—Louis (49), Eva (42), Hugo (24), Anais (22)



TOTAL: 60 PEOPLE





From Newsday, July 5, 2027, page 1





MAPLE STREET SINKHOLE


LONG ISLAND’S DEEPEST spontaneous sinkhole appeared yesterday, this time in Garden City’s Sterling Park during holiday festivities. A German shepherd plummeted inside the 180-foot-deep fissure and has not yet been recovered. No other injuries were reported.

This is the third sinkhole event on Long Island in as many years. Experts warn that more are expected. According to Hofstra University geology professor Tom Brymer, “The causes for sinkholes include the continued use of old water mains, excessive depletion of the lowest water table, and increasing periods of flooding and extreme heat.” (See diagram, page 31.) In conjunction with the New York Department of Agriculture (NYDOA), the New York Environmental Protection Agency (NYEPA) announced yesterday that Long Island’s aquifers have not been affected. Residents may continue to drink tap water.

The NYDOA has closed Sterling Park and its adjoining streets to nonresidential traffic during an excavation and fill, which will begin July 7 and is slated to run through July 18. The nearby Garden City Pool will also be closed. For more on the sinkhole, see pages 2–11.





From “The Lost Children of Maple Street,” by Mark Realmuto, The New Yorker, October 19, 2037

It’s difficult to imagine that Gertie Wilde and Rhea Schroeder were ever friends. It’s even more ludicrous to think that the friendship would turn so bitter as to result in homicide.

Connolly and Schiff posited in their seminal work on mob mentality, The Human Tide, that Rhea took pity on the Wilde family. She wanted to help them fit in. But a closer look belies that theory. When the Cheon, Simpson, and Atlas families moved to Maple Street during the five years prior, Rhea did not attempt the same kinds of friendships. Though she welcomed the families with baskets of chocolate and perfume, by their own accounts, she was cold. “I think she was intimidated,” Christina Cheon admitted. “I’m a doctor. She didn’t like the competition for most accomplished woman on the block.” Ellis Simpson added, “Everybody from around here had family to help them out. That’s why you moved to the suburbs. Free babysitting. I mean, it definitely wasn’t for the culture. But the Wildes were alone. I think that’s why Rhea plugged into Gertie. Bullies seek the vulnerable. You know what else bullies do? They trick people who don’t know any better into believing they’re important.”