This story is by Nicole Beeman-Cadwallader and was part of our 2025 Fall Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.
Natalie weaves through traffic on her bike. Just as she pedals her way up the final hill to the community garden, she notices a yellow poster secured to the fence with zip ties. “Plastic ones at that,” Natalie thinks.
She rides closer and reads “PUBLIC NOTICE,” but she can’t make out any other words. “Of course it’s too small to read! Obfuscated slickness masquerading as transparency,” Natalie mutters. Natalie reads, “Developer: Authenti-CITY Properties,” and rips the sign off the fence as it shakes from her frustration. She stuffs it in her backpack and rides to the garden’s office.
Natalie storms through the door. “Hi, Nat!” bids Cawil. He sees her and his smile droops. He asks, “You ok?” Natalie exhales, and her curls fly upward. She pulls the poster out of her bag.
Cawil squints to read the poster, pulling his glasses to his nose. “Oh, Natalie,” he whispers. “Doesn’t the city own this land? Can’t you talk with them?” Natalie shrugs, “Who do I even talk to? My only contact is in the Parks Department.” Cawil nods and says, “Do you want me to go with you?” Natalie shakes her head.
Natalie walks into the Parks Department office and asks for Nathan Glissade. “Do you have an appointment?” asks the assistant. Natalie groans, “No. But I see him sitting at his desk.” Glissade moves his face behind his computer screen. He calls back, “You can let her pass through. Thanks.”
Natalie rips the poster out of her bag and shouts, “What. Is. This? Glissade? How could you do this? After all we’ve done to build spirit and provide food for the immigrant community.”
Glissade stands, motioning with his hands to calm the situation. “Ok! Ok,” he says, “I’ll tell you what I know.” Natalie flops into Glissade’s chair and looks up at him. Glissade grabs a chair from another table and sits in front of Natalie.
“Natalie, the city has a budget shortfall.” Natalie looks up at the ceiling and exhales. Glissade continues, “This is the strategy now. Sell off land to make up money that keeps programs running.” Natalie interjects, “And gardens are an easy sell-off.” Glissade sighs. Before he responds, Natalie jumps up to leave. As she rides back to the garden, she plots her next move.
“What if lots of people complain? Would it stop the development?” Natalie says to Cawil. Cawil asks, “You mean like a Town Hall meeting?” Natalie’s eyes spark into focus. “Yes! Exactly.” Cawil smiles and asks, “You want…” Before he finishes, Natalie walks out of the garden office.
The cold air stings Natalie’s nostrils. The gardeners scurry, harvesting as much as possible before the season’s end. Natalie asks them to join the next Town Hall meeting. They hesitate, “Don’t you know that this is scary for us? What if they take away programs?”
Natalie collects anonymous statements from the gardeners and solicits neighbors’ support. At the town hall meeting, she reads every statement. Her neighbors follow her lead. The city council members look tired, but they listen. They tell Natalie that they will consider it. Natalie leaves unsatisfied.
She researches the development company’s background and scours the city’s website. “Who are these people?” she wonders. Natalie finds patterns but no solid answers. She finds the address for Authenti-CITY Properties and decides to visit.
The office assistant stands to greet Natalie. “How may I help you?” Natalie says, “I’m here about a proposed development.” The assistant sits, looking at a spreadsheet that Natalie can’t see. “The community garden on the corner of 7th and Schuyler,” Natalie interrupts. “Anyone who can tell me about the developments in that area.” The assistant motions Natalie toward an office.
Natalie enters, eyeing floor-to-ceiling windows and mountain views. “Hello!” the man says. Natalie does not budge. She says, “I’m here on behalf of the community garden you’re ripping up.” She whips the poster out of her bag. The man says, “Where…you’re not supposed to…” Natalie says, “Well, you’re not supposed to pave over someone’s food!” “Have a seat,” he says.
The man offers an explanation. “It doesn’t excuse you from bulldozing people’s vegetables. For what? Another set of condos?” The man folds his hands. “You know,” he says, “we’re going to need landscaping at our new complex. Want to be our landscaper?” Natalie scrunches her face. “The landscaper? Sir, I am an ecologist with a Master’s in Public Affairs!” The man shrugs and replies, “Who says it couldn’t be sustainable landscaping?”
Natalie feels disgusted. Natalie confirms her hunches about the connections between the city and the development company. The development company subsidizes other city offices, promises a windfall of revenue, and has related city officials and company executives.
Natalie wants to deter the developers. She trolls the development company’s social media pages. She posts dirt about the familial connections and sleazy money. She makes posts about them bulldozing food, and starts commenting on posts about what people should look forward to in the new developments.
One day, Natalie sees a police officer talking with Cawil as she rides up to the garden office. She calls, “Cawil! Are you ok? Is everything ok?” Cawil says, “Natalie, they’re here for you.” The officer says, “Ma’am, can I ask you a few questions?” Natalie nods, “Officer, let’s talk while we walk through this amazing garden that feeds many community members.”
The officer tells her that she has to stop trolling Authenti-CITY Properties. “What you’re doing is borderline defamation,” he says. After some arguing between them, he says, “I’ve got to get back on my patrol, m’am, but please stop what you’re doing. You’ve drawn our attention.”
“Now what?” Natalie thinks.
Early the next morning, Natalie paces—her heart racing. She watches the gardeners arrive. She notices Cawil approaching the office. She can’t look him in the eyes. She can hardly believe what she’s done.
By mid-morning, the police officer returns to the office. Natalie ducks behind a cornstalk. She hears the officer ask Cawil some questions. She feels horrible. She runs up toward the officer and Cawil. Along the way, a gardener stops her and says, “What is that smell? Do you smell it, Natalie? It smells like smoke.” Natalie whispers, “I’ll be right back.”
Cawil sniffs, “I smell smoke.” Natalie approaches, and she says to the officer, “How can I help you, sir?” He says, “Just a courtesy call, ma’am. Everything ok?” Natalie says, “What do you mean?” He says, “Wondered if the smoke was bothering you, or if the fire had made its way here.” One gardener exclaims, “I KNEW it!” Another gasps. Natalie grits her teeth.
Natalie replays the night before. She watched the development, noticing no cameras anywhere in sight. She felt desperation. She needed a message to be sent.
Natalie tore down all the posters she could find, cut them into tiny squares, and coated them with candle wax. She stuffed them into a plastic bag, then into her backpack, and rode up to the development site.
The garden lies on the corner of the development site, a small area of which is unfenced. She snuck through it. She spread the wax-coated poster pieces around the equipment and stacked lumber.
The pieces did not stay lit. She pulled out bottles of lighter fluid, doused everything, then made a trail away from it. She lit the trail, watching flaming lumber and bubbling paint. Then, she dragged hoses from the garden to put out the fire. She thought she put it all out. But fires in a dry land can’t be contained. Winds are unpredictable. She must have missed some hot coals.
The next evening, the fire spread to the garden. Because it was the end of the season, the dry brush, grasses, and plant carcasses caught quickly.
Natalie felt ashamed. Later, and in confidence, she admitted to Cawil that she started the fires. He felt betrayed. Word spread around the garden. The gardeners shunned her. The police came back, this time with handcuffs. She was arrested. Natalie, incapable of deception, didn’t resist or try to deny her wrongdoing.
About a week after Natalie was first arrested, Cawil leads a group of gardeners to visit Natalie. Cawil steps forward. He says, “We commit to rebuilding the garden. It is important for the community. On one condition.” Cawil swallows and says, “You can no longer be in charge, Natalie. The fire was a devastating culmination of the problems underneath.”
“You force too many things yourself, Natalie.” Another gardener steps and says, “It’s true. You may have gotten the garden started, but you mistake it for your own property.” A third gardener says, “Imagine how this would have been different if you believed this was something for all of us to figure out together.”
Natalie sighs and nods. The gardeners leave her to think. Natalie realizes she cannot do this alone, and that her fire and wind need to be met with coolness and peace, and that it has to be done together.
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