Phoenix Fire Read Free Page A

He would trust the stirrings within him. He never quite felt this way about anyone.
    As Tuesday dawned Jason felt an almost teenage nervousness, an awkward anticipation. He went about his daily business with an odd sense of urgency. He seriously considered canceling his last important meeting of the day, an appointment with a very high profile developer regarding a multimillion dollar commercial venture on a sizable piece of real estate he owned. Good sense prevailed and he kept the appointment.
    It was not only Jason’s elevated excitement about his evening date with Jenny, it was the incredibly beautiful Arizona weather. His plush offices were located on the nineteenth floor of the Bank One Building in downtown Phoenix. Outside his full-wall plate glass window he saw the distant peaks of the rugged McDowell Mountains. The smog seemed temporarily checked by the recent winds and rains. Farther east he saw a sun dappled outline of the Superstitions, almost surreal in its gauzy splendor. The tall palms along Central Avenue swayed and the vast blue sky stretched forever. A warm and pleasing lethargy came upon him, nestling nicely with his thoughts about the evening ahead.
    The intercom interrupted his reverie, and he reluctantly pressed a button. “Yes, Nora?”
    “Phil Langley is here, Jason.” After so many years with Jason, Nora was comfortable using the first name.
    “Right. See if he wants coffee and send him in. Bring me a fresh cup, please.”
    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