It could be 400 days. I'm not counting; only making a guess. Regardless, "all the sweet green icing's flowing down"(1)
The fact is that as far back as I can remember, each day has been made up of a chorus of growling trucks and the constant movement of dirt. They take the dirt from one pile and move it to another pile.
And when the trucks back up, they "beeee-beeeee-beeeee-beeee-beeeee..."
Except of course today, Monday August 16, when at 7am, chainsaws announced the start of activity.
I did not live during the great depression and the upturn that followed it, but I'm thinking that perhaps this storm water retention effort and the reconstruction of McCarthy Park, at the eastern end Victory Fields is our modern day WPA project.
100 days... 200 days... 400 days... Greater sieges took much less time. The Boxer rebellion of the early 20th century culminated in a 55 day siege on Beijing. This siege on McCarthy Park has the stamina of a marathon man, making the Boxers look like wusses for not lasting longer.
They wrote a song and made a movie about the Boxer rebellion. It was called 55 Days At Peking - starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven.
Maybe it's time for the sequel.
No matter, I think we can still use him in the movie. Maybe we'll add some mystery as his body tumbles out of a dump truck along with a load of dirt.
David Niven must also reprise his character of Sir Arthur Robinson. He can even keep the name. I hope he isn't dead too or wasn't killed in the original move - though, it is so easy to picture that happening, isn't it.
Anyway, in this movie, I want David to play the role of a beleaguered engineer. He was assigned to design a hole in the ground but somehow, he screwed that up - by overcomplicating the design, and by being in over his head to begin with. Now, 300 days into the effort, with the project over extended and over budget, he is on the verge of being attacked by the township board members (playing the role of the Boxers). Throughout the movie, we follow Arthur (David) through his daily roles and watch with building tension as he develops - first, a plan - then a truly creative and genius new plan - one that reframes the storm water retention project as a government incentive program - a project that keeps workers working - almost perpetually, in this downturned economy. Not only does he put down the insurrection of the Whitemarsh Board of supervisors, but in doing so he allows them to spin the effort for their own glory.
A win-win-win effort !!!
In the end, everyone lives happily ever after. The destroyed landscape eventually returns, although all of the trees and rabbits and groundhogs that were hurt in the making of the film, remain dead.
The residents also eventually adjust to the lost mountain of dirt that they had become accustom to. They once again hear the normal sounds of the summer day - mostly traffic, but occasionally, a hawk. And lastly, they all gain a new (albeit false) sense of security that their houses will not flood in the future.
Picture the final scene of the movie similar to the final scene from The Magnificent Seven. In it, we see the engineer Arthur Robinson, who has avoided many forms of death, taking up house with one of the neighborhood widows whom he has fallen in love with (a subplot to the movie). Looking over the retention pond - a "magnificent" hole of his own making - he mumbles something about, "in the end, only the farmer have won". This of course, makes no sense to the movie, but continues to portray the mental illness that led Arthur down this path.
Cue the sunset over Victory Fields. I'm... (as Harry Kalas used to say) outta here !
(1) a famous line from the song, "MacArthur Park" by Jimmy Webb
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