The Milky Way Galaxy, Planet Earth, Cleveland, Ohio.

Ohio.

12 year old Esmerleau

12 year old Esmerleau looks out the window of her father's single-engine airplane.

All of Cleveland is rolling underneath her.

The trees look just like broccoli, she feels.

And the lake looks like one of her mom's silver plates.

And it's getting bigger in her eyes.

And she smiles. Now, little Esmerlda doesn't know this probably, but a hundred years ago or so, her great-great-grandfather

John Stonefall, the oil tycoon, bought all the land currently rolling underneath her for a

suspiciously small sum.

But rather than build on a land... for a suspiciously small sum.

But rather than build on the land like everyone expected, he instead had it all dug up,

leaving mounds of dirt everywhere, much to the chagrin of the locals. Petitions were signed, ladies groups had lunches.

Finally as a compromise, Stonefall filled most of the holes, built a summer home on a small piece of the

land, and donated the rest to the city of Cleveland for parks

The stone falls ended up liking it in Cleveland

Despite the controversy they were happy there and they bred like rabbits

becoming more and more cousins with cleaner and cleaner money and that money

eventually thinned and settled, became locked up in foundations, orchestras, zoos.

Many of these cousins left Cleveland, but a few stayed.

Their lives buoyed by the steady pumping of old trusts.

...