SLPAD - 109 - "Low-Lands" - 21

[Michael Bailey]

All day long, Rocco said,
               two D-8 bulldozers would bury the refuse under fill which
was brought in from the north shore, and which raised the level of that
floor a tiny fraction of an inch everyday. It was this peculiar quality of
fatedness which struck Flange as he gazed off into the half-light while
Rocco dumped the load: this thought that one day, perhaps fifty years from
now, perhaps more, there would no longer be any hole: the bottom would be
level with the streets of the development, and houses would be built on it
too. As if some maddeningly slow elevator were carrying you toward a known
level confer with some inevitable face on matters which had already been
decided.



This resonates with the pear tree in _V._
The feeling of being amid a long slow uninspiring process

D-8 bulldozer (Caterpillar) - if he's been married 7 years, the first 3 of
which he spent in the Navy during the Korean conflict, which ended in 1953
at which time he likely demobilized - then perhaps it's 1957

Man starting his 1957 D-8
https://youtu.be/BguK6Y6BKao?si=GB77IKuGP0UWMwMU

https://contractormag.co.nz/classic-machines/caterpillar/d8/tractor/





The story, with this bit of woolgathering, opens up into full accord with a
Flange-centered thought process as he placidly steps through into a new
part of reality - abandoning attempts to conform to his previous set of
expectations (IMHO)


https://youtu.be/HN5hExalimk?si=akQAJOvqv0y8HT03

D-8 Cat moving some earth