No television.
No phones.
No arguments about property rights.
Just a father and son in the kitchen of a house their family had loved for more than four decades.
Then the older man spoke again.
"Son?"
"Yeah?"
"That video."
The younger man looked toward him.
"What about it?"
The father hesitated.
"Do you ever watch it?"
The son was quiet.
Then nodded.
"Sometimes."
The elderly man looked down.
"Why?"
The younger man considered.
He could have said he watched it to remind himself of what happened.
Or because he was still angry.
Both would have been true.
But there was another reason.
He looked toward his father.
"Because it reminds me that I need to pay attention."
The old man smiled faintly.
Then shook his head.
"Don't spend your life watching the worst day we ever had."
The son looked up.
His father continued.
"Keep the evidence. Keep the records. But don't let that man take every other day from you."
For several seconds, the younger man couldn't speak.
Then he nodded.
"Okay."
The older man smiled.
"Good."
He lifted his cup.
Then looked toward the dishwasher.
"Now, are you finished cleaning?"
The son laughed.
"Almost."
"Then get me another piece of cake."
The younger man burst out laughing.
"Dad, the doctor told you to be careful."
The old man grinned.
"Half a piece."
The son shook his head.
"You're impossible."
His father smiled.
"Still here, though."
The words made the younger man stop laughing.
He looked toward the old man.
Then smiled softly.
"Yeah."
He reached for the cake.
"You are."
The following spring, the elderly father planted another magnolia tree.
He chose a place near the edge of the backyard, where the grass sloped gently toward Mill Creek.
His son helped dig the hole.
The old man supervised from a folding chair.
He pointed.
"Little deeper."
The son sighed.
"Dad, I've already dug it."
"Then dig it properly."
The younger man laughed.
"You're worse than a construction inspector."
His father smiled.
"I was a construction inspector."
"Don't remind me."
They both laughed.
The afternoon was beautiful.
The creek moved quietly beneath the trees.
Birds gathered near the fence.
And the neighborhood looked peaceful.
Across the creek, engineers were completing additional evaluations connected to the revised development plan.
The elderly father could see their equipment through the branches.
He watched for a moment.