Story Overview

This is a story about love of place. Of challenges as that place changes. Maines lumber business is dying. The environmentalists are calling for legislation which will make clear cutting illegal. People from away are moving in.

Characters

Paula, from away, is hated by Howard, the assistant sheriff. Rose, a grandmother, travels to Belize frequently. Her daughter, Shirley, works and runs the only restaurant, The Hole, in the town of Jackson, in northern Maine. John is the local sheriff and ex-husband to Shirley. They still secretly love each other. And, finally, their eighteen-year-old daughter, who also works at The Hole, is prostituting herself in order to get enough money to escape Jackson and move to Florida.

Ending

One of these women will die at the end of the story.