The excellence of living in a small New England town

We’re building an addition to the courthouse. We've been at it for a year or so. It's nearly done.

The old courthouse is a rather undistinguished brick affair, old—old is the key feature—and overcrowded. Way overcrowded We’re the county seat. There’s a lot of business at the courthouse here. People drive from all around. The parking lot’s always crowded—or was.

The new addition is a big glass box, A big new glass box. Some people like that, some people don’t, some would rather just not say..

But everybody’s wondering about a new problem that’s just been noticed now that the work is nearing completion. They built the new addition on the parking lot.

Oops.