Just looking at it made his head hurt with all the tangled property and ownership relationships embodied in the high spaces. He heard the easy chatter out the open windows and music and crying babies. Kids ran through the streets, laughing and chasing each other or bouncing balls or playing some kind of networked RPG with their phones that had them peeking around corners, seeing another player and shrieking and running off. The grill-woman at the barbecue joint greeted him by name and the men and women around it made space for him. It was friendly and companionable, and after a moment Francis wandered up with a couple of his proteges. They carried boxes of beer. "Hey hey," Francis said. "Home again, huh?" "Home again," Perry said. He wiped rib-sauce off his fingers and shook Francis's hand warmly. "God, I've missed this place." "We missed having you," Francis said. "Big crowds across the way, too. Seems like you hit on something." Perry shook his head and smiled and ate his ribs. "What's the story around here?" "Lots and lots," Francis said. "There's a whole net-community thing happening. Lots of traffic on the AARP message-boards from other people setting these up around the country." "So you've hit on something, too." "Naw. When it's railroading time, you get railroads. When it's squatter time, you get squats. You know they want to open a 7-Eleven here?" "No!" Perry laughed and choked on ribs and then guzzled some beer to wash it all down. Francis put a wrinkled hand over his heart. He still wore his wedding band, Perry saw, despite his wife's being gone for decades. "I swear it. Just there." He pointed to one of the busier corners. "And?" "We told them to fuck off," Francis said. "We've got lots of community-owned businesses around here that do everything a 7-Eleven could do for us, without taking the wealth out of our community and sending it to some corporate jack-off. Some soreheads wanted to see how much money we could get out of them, but I just kept telling them -- whatever 7-Eleven gives us, it'll only be because they think they can get more *out of us*.' They saw reason. Besides, I'm in charge -- I always win my arguments." "You are the most benevolent of dictators," Perry said. He began to work on another beer. Beer tasted better outside in the heat and the barbecue smoke. "I'm glad someone thinks so," Francis said. "Oh?" "The 7-Eleven thing left a lot of people pissed at me. There's plenty around here that don't remember the way it started off. To them, I'm just some alter kocker who's keeping them down."