Dorothy was used to rural living and never felt comfortable when neighboring houses were too close. She liked to do her own thing, especially now that the children were grown. She was only five feet, three inches tall and her hair was now beginning to gray. She kept active and between the pool and their acre and a half, there was plenty to do. Their life style was casual and she kept their home neat and comfortable

Ray, a pharmacist, had been raised in Philadelphia. After he graduated, he vowed he would never walk on cement or look at a chain-link fence again. He was a quiet man, slight of build, his hair too, now starting to gray. He appreciated his new natural surroundings and Dorothy was glad. She admired his enthusiastic way with which he became involved with his building projects. He never seemed to tire and she knew he loved the country life as much as she did.

Their favorite time of the day was after supper. She and Ray always sat out on the patio watching the sunset and listening to the coyotes waking up for their evening serenade. Just a few nights earlier they had heard the babies joining in with the adults during one of their howling sessions. At first they sounded like puppies until their limited sounds turned from yipping and whining to their feeble attempts at a howl. She had laughed, saying it was the neatest sound she would ever hear. Both of them loved this new peaceful way of life and knew they could never be happier.

It was Saturday night and they were having their usual get together with their closest friends, Bruce and Vicki. They had their usual dinner, with Ray grilling their steaks to perfection. After Dorothy served coffee and her famous chocolate cake for dessert, they headed for the pool. It was a beautiful, but very warm night. Ray began to yawn, stretching his arms out as far as he could. His face had a devilish look as he announced, "After a delicious dinner like that I think the only thing left for us to do now is to go skinny-dipping, right girls?"

Dorothy noticed that Ray was joking a lot more lately and he loved to ruffle feathers, especially Vicki’s. She fell into Ray’s traps almost every time.

"Dottie, I know your husband grows more unconventional by the day, but is he serious?"

Dorothy looked at her friend, laughed and shook her head. It never ceased to amaze her how Vicki would pretend to be so all-knowing and at the same time be so gullible.

Bruce thought it was great that Ray had gotten one over on Vicki. "He got ya on that one, didn’t he hon?"

"I hope you guys are having a grand time laughing at my expense!" Vicki became very indignant and Bruce knew better not to continue or he would have to answer to her later.

"Honey, come on, we were only kidding with you."

Vicki forced a smile, because Dorothy was giving her a pleading look. Dorothy knew that this was not going to be one of their better evenings together.

They sat around the pool having drinks, catching up with the past week, their jobs, their families and their homes. Ray had just announced that his next project was going to be another patio for a pool table.

"Ray, you’re able to build anything and do whatever you want," Bruce said. "I’m becoming extremely jealous and I need a huge favor from you." Bruce’s face became very serious. "Whatever you do, don’t build a block wall. When I sit on our patio all I see is that damn wall! The irony of it all is this. That wall has to be there, so your neighbor can’t look into your bathroom while you piddle!"

"Bruce, just stop it!" Vicki was glaring at him. "Know one cares to hear this anyway!"

Bruce ignoring her, continued with, "Do you know how lucky you guys really are? It’s so quiet and peaceful. You don’t hear the traffic, the kids screaming or doors slamming. Look at all those stars up there. God! Can it get any better than this?" Bruce, with his head tilted upward, let out a long sigh.

Vicki was becoming annoyed with him and let out a groan. "Oh, Please! Are we going to have this conversation again?"

Bruce’s tan face seemed to grow darker, as he turned to look at his wife. "Don’t worry, dear. We won’t be moving away from our grand suburban life," he said sarcastically. He leaned closer to Ray, muttering in a low, almost inaudible voice. He was going into great detail of how the homes looked so much alike.

"Did you know that every house in our development looks alike? Except that half the doors are all to the left and all the ones in between are to the right? Why, do you know how many times I have passed my own house? It’s ridiculous!"

Dorothy were holding her breath. The bomb was now going to drop. Vicki’s light gray eyes now were the color of steel, as she flipped back her long blonde hair, staring at Bruce.

"Bruce, you know I hate bugs and those awful crawly things! I’m allergic to them. Why, what if I got bit by a scorpion? I would probably die and you wouldn’t even care!" Vicki’s eyes were almost wild and quickly turning to Ray and Dorothy, she said, "Not for anything you guys, but this is not where I would want to live."

She turned to Bruce again, this time she was really glaring. "Bruce, you’re the one who wants to move out of the city, but you would be the only happy one, not me! All you ever do is think about yourself. What about my needs? What would you want with all this open space anyway? Look at all the work that's involved here! Besides, you couldn’t handle it!"

Vicki knew he was annoyed with her now and she didn’t care. Lately, they both seemed to go out of their way to purposely antagonize one another. "There you go again, pouting like a child!"

Bruce glared back at her and then gulping down his drink, he began waving his glass high in the air. "I think I’ll have another one of these."

Ray got up to fix another drink, giving Dorothy a quick wink. "In all honesty guys, we...well maybe me more than Dotty, really don’t want any more neighbors. it isn’t for everyone. You either like it or you don’t, ‘cause there ain’t no in between’. Your right too, Vicki. It is a lot of work and both people have to be willing to share it."

Ray couldn’t side with Bruce, at least not out loud. He knew Bruce would move in a New York minute. Dorothy knew also, that if the subject did not change quickly, this would be another one of those nights.

"You guys are happy where you are and you both know it," chanted Dorothy. "Your home is gorgeous and your close to everything, Everything isn’t so perfect here, either. I have to remember bread and milk or it’s a forty-minute ride! When the electric goes off, we don’t have any water! You have to have water jugs filled at all times, during the monsoons. Come on and chill out you guys. Be happy!"

She reached over to give Bruce a reassuring hug. He looks like a whipped dog, she thought to herself. She hugged Vicki and whispered to her, "Lets have a good time tonight." Dorothy knew that Vicki could never live the desert life and knew Bruce was pushing her. Lately, he was voicing his likes and dislikes more often. "Come on you guys, lets go for a swim." A cooling-off is what we all need right now, she was thinking.

They swam for a while and then Ray grabbed the ball to play "Keep-Away." The guys teamed up against the girls. When Vicki was finally able to steal the ball, she quickly threw it to Dorothy, before Bruce could grab it again. She yelled to her as she threw it, but Dorothy wasn’t paying any attention. "Shh! Listen!" Dorothy said, as she watched their faces, her blue eyes sparkling like the pool water.

Vicki groaned and said, "There goes this game! Dorothy, you’re as bad as Bruce. It took all this time to get the ball and you’re not even paying attention!"

Dorothy hadn’t heard a word Vicki said, because she was so intent on listening to the coyotes howling. They had begun their serenade, building their song to a crescendo. "Don’t they sound neat?" she asked them.

"Really, Dorothy. They just give me the willys," Vicki said. "Let’s go inside and play some cards. I don’t even want to hear them."

Dorothy was wondering to herself why people were so different from one another. Why didn’t her friend see and feel the same things that she felt?

It was the fifteen of August and it was still early before the heat of the day. Ray had left for work and Dorothy went about feeding the citrus trees, happy that they were finally going to get some oranges from those funny little green things. When she had finished, she grabbed her raft and jumped into the pool. She floated almost aimlessly, lying on her back with her face toward the sun. It was a cloudless, blue sky that day and she breathed deeply, taking in the fresh clean smell of the air. The ripples of water carried her lazily around the pool, her world of mountains and desert passing her by. Everything was so beautiful and green after all the rain they had just received. She relaxed and closed her eyes.

A loud roar brought her out of her dream-like state. She sat up on the raft, shading her eyes from the blinding glare of the sun. When she was able to focus, she saw two huge trucks pulling onto the property in back of hers, almost dead north. She remembered vaguely a neighbor telling her just last week that two more houses were going to be built. She got out of the pool to watch them dig up and flatten what had taken nature years to grow.

She knew Ray was going to be furious. He had knocked down the "For Sale" signs as fast as they were put up. She thought about Dave, their closest neighbor. He had confessed to Ray that he had knocked down their sign too, several times. "It didn’t stop you from buying and building though, did it? Forget it, man. It’s only a matter of time. I’ll probably move again, in a couple of years!" Dorothy thought it was ridiculous at the time, telling Ray they weren’t the only ones who had a right to live there.

She took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh. Now she was beginning to understand why he did his silly thing. It finally had hit her. Maybe in a few years, there wouldn't be any desert. Just houses and paved roads would mark the landscape. Maybe the houses would block all of their views, like what Bruce was complaining about. They now had a panoramic view of the mountains and the sky, and it didn’t matter which way they faced. Dorothy had nick-named it 'God’s Little Acre." These things were their reasons for moving here. Were they going to disappear before her eyes? God, she had been so blind!.

Through out the day, she would stop whatever she was doing to watch the trucks driving back and forth, flattening everything in their way. Two more graders came, making sure that the land was even flatter than before. The horizon became filled with red dust, making the mountains almost invisible.

By the end of the day the trucks and bulldozers had disappeared, but so had everything else that was familiar to her. The Jojoba bush and Palo Verde trees were no more. In their place was naked fresh red dirt, already beginning to bake from the sun. The beautiful green of the desert had changed to a huge, unpaved parking lot. They had saved nothing!

It was dark when Ray finally came home. After dinner, he and Dorothy stepped out onto the patio with their coffee. Even though Dorothy had avoided it all evening, she finally told Ray what had happened. Dorothy was glad Ray had come home late. He would see it all too soon in the morning.

"At least at night, all you can see is the sky and the stars. Thank God for the night time!" Ray looked sadly at Dorothy.

Dorothy put her cup down, her face masking her fears. "They’re still all ours," she said, waving her arm. "And we still have our coyotes." She reached over to give him a hug, making funny faces causing him to laugh.

His deep blue eyes grew even bluer as he gently kissed her. "Your right, honey. I have all this and I even have you."

They sat without talking for a long time. After a while Ray said, "I guess Dave was right. You just can’t stop progress, but it’s still a damn shame."

Dorothy agreed with Ray, turning over in her mind, all the events that took place that day. She then began to wonder about the part she played in all this. Just how much had they destroyed building their own home? Their land had once been desert, too. There wasn't even a road here, only a path!

They sat awhile and soon the coyotes began their serenade. Dorothy had remarked that there were more coyotes than usual this night. "Honey, listen to all of them! Have you ever heard so many?" They sang loud and for a long time. They sat, just talking softly and listening. When the evening grew late, they reluctantly went inside. They knew the coyotes would "sing" them to sleep tonight.

Three houses have been built since that day and Dorothy and Ray are getting used to seeing other cars on their road. Dorothy became very aware of missing certain landmarks. Once, three large palo verde trees grew where Mr. Ellison’s garage now stands. Man and time have a way of changing these things. Where there’s progress being made, one always has hope that these changes are for the better. Dorothy would ask herself, "But, what is better?"

They continued their evening ritual with their coffee out on the patio. They still had their mountains to the east and all their stars. At least man couldn't remove them! However, one more important change had taken place... They now brought their radio out with them. Without it, the dead silence on the night was just too much for both of them.