The time had come to tear down the old orchard. For the longest time it had produced fine apples, and the owners had always boasted about their work and home-grown fertilizer. But that was years ago, and with its owners long gone and the trees dead and withered, the farm had gone into default. Its land was returned to the county, and as it goes the developers rolled in. It had been an odd place for a farm, not terribly far from the center of town, right near the old asylum. It had been cheap land at the time, the owners said, so why not build there?