CHAPTER 25: THE CONSTANT GARDENERLike Lydia, J.D. regarded Edgar Rowdey with superstitious awe.
In the mid 2000s, when real-estate prices were skyrocketing, Joao Dhiogo Urreta had been lured to Cape Cod by the construction boom. Hundreds of young immigrants from diverse countries found work building and fixing up houses. Luckily for J.D., he had a green thumb and two years’ experience with a landscaper. When the housing bubble burst, sending most of his cousins back to Brazil, J.D. hung onto his mortgaged cottage in Hyannis. Even as foreclosures spread like crabgrass, those who still owned lawns and gardens needed someone to mow and weed them.
The economy tightened. Winter killed the grass and flowers. J.D. applied for a second job as a dishwasher at Leo’s Back End.
He emerged from a d
