Part One: The Harralsons, Chapters 3 and 4 Summary

Construction on the Harralsons' house starts the day after Labor Day. Colquitt is newly upset each day when she comes home from work to see trees have been cut down. Dust covers everything at the Kennedy house. Even the cats are angered by the construction. However, Colquitt does admit that once the house is finished and the lot landscaped, the lot next door will not have changed as much as she first thought it would.

One evening Claire and Roger Swanson kid Colquitt about her developing friendship with Kim, the Harralsons' architect. Colquitt writes that even her husband, Walter, likes Kim. She stresses that her relationship with Kim will never be anything but a friendship. The friendship had started one day when Kim asked Colquitt to make a phone call to his office...