And it was not just that—the grass behaved strangely there. While the rest of the lawn grew thick and lush, the area around the mound sprouted in uneven, patchy tufts. Some weeks, it browned inexplicably, as though the soil beneath it carried a temperature all its own.
He tested the sprinkler system, checked for pests, and even tried reseeding by hand, but nothing changed. No matter what he did, the ground responded with the same stubborn irregularity. It was as if the earth was resisting his attempts to normalize it.