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were mostly white vinyl and well made, the sidewalks clean with black shutters framing the windows. There were parking garages along each building with several cars huddled together in small groups throughout the lots.
    Nice , Jack thought. His own home was just around the block, two stories and sixty years old. It had pale green siding and several trees in the back yard; a large weeping willow was his favorite. He thought of his wife who was probably home right now with their son who had just turned six and was learning the joy of climbing trees. Twice now Jack had to bring a ladder to a tree after his son climbed so high he couldn’t get down and had shrieked loud enough to rouse Jack from deep within a novel.
    He passed Apartment Buildings C and D, equally clean but a little older, and approached a sharp turn in the drive. As he made the turn he nearly ran into a newspaper boy on his bike.
    Jack swerved sharply to miss him and his truck bounced over the curb. He skidded to a stop and looked just in time to see the boy peddling furiously to get away. The boy looked over his shoulder at Jack for a split second and his eyes were apologetic, but there was something else. A deep seated fear. He saw how the boy was gripping the bike’s handles with white knuckles, his eyes wide and his legs pumping hard on his peddles. Geez, kid. It wasn’t THAT close. Jack watched him race around the corner. He shook his head and looked forward.
    A monstrous willow tree was inches from his bumper.
    Its long branches dangled over the hood of his engine, they were dark and stringy. He had never seen a willow tree so huge. The trunk was at least ten feet around and emerged from the ground in great ropy bulges extending twenty or more feet in the air before it was lost in a great sea of branches. Jack spotted little rivulets of what looked like green moss growing on its ancient trunk. There were gaping crevasses extending deep into the tree and Jack was amazed that the mammoth was still alive. It looked to be hundreds of years old.
    He slowly backed his truck onto the road. He gave a low whistle as more of the tree came into view. It dominated the entire front acreage of Apartment Building E. Branches extended over the paved drive and dangled onto the other side, hanging in massive strings like a forest of very tall weeds. The front lawn of Apartment Building E was covered by these hanging branches as well and they obscured most of the building from view. Jack drove forward under the branches, hearing his tires crunch over a mat of dead willow stringers that covered the road.
    He pulled into the parking spot on the other side of the tree and got out. The front door of Apartment Building E was visible although it was covered with a thin layer of moss the same shade of pale green that Jack noticed on the willow trunk. The rest of the front side was totally obscured by branches that were pushing against it. They were thick and bunched together, long sinewy strands that seemed to be a part of Apartment Building E itself. It was hard to tell where the wall started and the branches stopped.
    Jack shrugged off the chills and wondered why people would live in such a dump. He made his way around the corner of Apartment Building E and walked along the side to the back. There was trash scattered along the foundation and he noticed great cracks in the concrete running the entire side. The sidewalk was uneven and jutted out in several places making it difficult to walk. Jack had to be careful to prevent jamming his foot on the raised edges. He envied the janitors of the other apartments and could imagine them sitting around jeering at the poor sucker who had to maintain Building E.
    The maintenance door had a dead bolt lock which only opened with considerable effort; Jack nearly wrenched the key in two trying to unlock it. The door swung open and with nothing to stop it, thudded against the wood siding.
    It was dark inside and he fished along the wall for the