User:Bango Skank/An Expanding and Superior Malton

This story is part of the Malton Chronicles. This story is fan-made, and is not officially part of any background history for Urban Dead.

An Expanding and Superior Malton

Part 1

"Malton seems to be doing pretty well, I suppose. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think it's going to be listed on 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' anytime soon, but, you have to admit, it does have its perks." Janice winced slightly, realizing that her remarks, while meant to be a little mean, might have overstepped the line.

Samual lowered the newspaper he had been reading and raised an eyebrow at Janice, who had, he beleived, just uttered the dumbest statement ever made. Shaking his head slightly, Samual returned his eyes back to the headline he had been reading over and over with disdain: "Blackmore Building Sold, 14 businesses, 300 Workers Evicted".

"Oh, yeah. Just great," Samual murmurred, not really caring if Janice had heard him or not.

His sarcasm wasn't lost. "Come on. I know you're in a pissy mood now, but with the extra income I'll be making, everything will work out fine." Janice stood up, clearing plates from the kitchen table and moving them to the sink.

Samual read on.

After nearly seven months of discussions, The Blackmore Building has been officially purchased by a consortium of hospitals, known as the Better Living Researchers. The association, which includes St. Jude's, St. Luke's and Aldabert General hospitals, began pooling their resources in September 2004 in an attempt at create better communication amoung scientists in the area.

Deciding to invest in a solidified location, Better Living Reasearchers started negotiations for the Blackmore Building in December 2004. Since then, BLR has been in a bitter court battle against the tenets of the building, who had refused to vacate. However, seven months later, a group of concerned citizens, including angry tenets and the Malton Historical Society, agreed in a general forum to leave the building.

"We've come to the conclusion that, while the Blackmore Building has an impressive past, Malton would be better served with a large, organized corporation like the Better Living Researchers," said Michael Roman, who was elected amoung tenets and the Hisorical Society as a leader and representative during negotiations. "BLR is offering a great opportunity to skilled doctors in the area, and is drawing new and greater amounts of money and intelligent minds. I think everyone should welcome BLR as our new neighbor; I know I will."

Samual gritted his teeth. Yeah, I bet you fucking will, he said to himself. Samual had long ties to the building; his grandfather, Albert Senns, had opened a contracting business at Blackmore more than 80 years ago. Since then, the business had been passed down to Samual's dad, James Senns, then to Samual, and now he had to watch some with nearly a century of history and hard work be pulled away from the place it began.

Hell, my grandfather helped build the fucking building. Samual milled over this thought for a few moments and returned to the paper.

While off the record, an insider, giving annonymously, told the Maltonian that the Blackmore Building had been sold for nearly 40 million dollars. If this is true, this single transaction represents nearly 20% of all property sold in the local area in the past five years. It would easily be the single most expensive piece of property in the immediate area.

Samual stopped; he couldn't take anymore.

Of course Roman wanted to welcome BLR with open arms. Samual was sure they had lined Romans pockets so well that he wouldn't be able to walk to the bank laughing; he would probably be panting and out of breath. During the negotiations, Samual's and other businesses in the building had been the dissenting voice, but after seven months, only a handful remained and were easily outvoiced, and in the end, outvoted, by the others. Samual had come to the conclusion that nearly everyone had been paid off in some way, but just how much, he couldn't imagine. The mere thought of so many dollars for his family history made his blood boil.

Janice leaned over his shoulder, snatching away the newspaper and taking the final few dishes. She rubbed her cheek to his, and gave him a playful peck.

"Listen, I know how important to you, and I'm not saying it's right." She paused for a second, treading carefully. "But this is going to really set us up in the long run. I understand that you're angry, and you have every right to be. BLR is a huge company with lots of opportunities. If they continue at the pace they're going, we could even move out of Malton. Who says that you couldn't start another Senns business somewhere else?"

And while Samual had always talked late at night and in cofidence to Janice that he wanted to move out of Malton and start something from the ground up, his pride was too damaged by seven months of bitter feelings about the entire deal.

He had nearly given up in the end. Outspoken people who disagreed with him slowly turned into annonymous phone calls in the middle of the night and hushed voices about how he was ruining the deal for the rest of the tenents. When the old owner, Willian Gefney, had come to speak to him one day, he had made it obvious that Samual should tone it down and give up, or consequences would be dire. After that, Samual had only tried to save the building, he claimed, for the sake of remembering his family's roots. His pride was the only thing that kept him in the fight.

And of course, he had never mentioned it to Janice.

Gefney was a bastard, and a money-hungry businessman. Not much better than Roman.

In the end, he had to admit, BLR was going to bring money into the area. The deal was especially sweet, however ironic, since Janice had been recruited by them and she was expected to make well over six figures. He knew the building wasn't in fantastic shape, and the Senns business could always live on in another form outside of the Blackmore Building.

Getting out from under Gefney would be nice, because Samual had never seen eye to eye with him on many things, and he had felt very apprehensive around the man ever since their "encounter".

Strange that BLR was willing to spend 40 million plus on Blackmore, Senns family ties or no. They were even bringing in government contractors, rumor had it. It might be possible for Samual to get a piece of the action, and it couldn't hurt to boost Janice's and his reputation since everyone knew Samual was a dissenting voice on the transaction.

Samual lightened and turned to Janice, giving her a wink. "Well, I could always start 'Senns Construction: Proud builders in Hawaii since 2005.'"

She gave him a wry smile and leaned over to kiss him again. Samual stood and wrapped his arms around her, glad that after all the mayhem, things would probably turn out all right.

Janice broke the embrace, leaned down and picked up a courier-style bag. She slung the bag over her shoulder and asked him, "So I'll see you tonight then?"

Samual nodded, and walked her to the door. They stood in the portal for a moment, embraced again, and Samual whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Janice returned. She rounded in the doorway and made her way towards the car in the driveway.

"I'm proud of you, too," Samual called after her as she opened the door.

Janice slid into the seat and called out the open window. "Wish me luck!" With that, the car came to life and she pulled away.

"Good luck," Samual said to himself.

Turning back towards the kitchen, Samual started his own day's work: issuig pink slips to the 19 workers who didn't have a business to report to, and organizing the tear down and romoval of the things at the Senns Construction office.