A Family Trust by Ward Just

Author:Ward Just
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2010-05-29T04:00:00+00:00

That was her cousin, Jake Rising, Elliott Townsend’s new law partner. A single light was burning in the office; doubtless Jake working late. She moved on. The glow from the streetlights cast queer shadows, the town seemed to her—empty, a ghost town. There was no activity, no automobiles or people or blinking lights or sound. No, she thought, it was by no means a handsome town; it was a nineteenth-century mill town, the buildings undistinguished, false fronts concealing nothing. The store windows were laden with goods but many of the windows were dirty and the goods seemed placed there almost as an afterthought. The silence was disconcerting to her, and suddenly, remembering the face slumped on the dashboard of the wrecked car, she shuddered. Dana pulled into a parking place across from the newspaper building and sat a moment, motionless, watching the deserted street. She shook her head and got out of the car and walked into the I. The street door was not locked and she went quickly to the third floor.

She saw her father before he saw her. He was bent over some papers on his desk.

“Stop the presses,” she said.

“Dana!” Charles smiled broadly and came around his desk and embraced her. “You got here all right.”

“I did,” she said. “lt’s not that long a drive, and the plane was a little early—”

“Gosh,” he said. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s nice to be home.” She noticed the television set in the corner and remembered the debate, cursing herself that she’d not listened to it. She’d forgotten completely about it. “How was it? The debate.”

“You didn’t hear it? Nixon blew it, I’m afraid. Blew it sky-high.”

“Kennedy was good?” She tried to keep the enthusiasm from her voice.

“Terrible,” her father said. “Just awful. But Nixon was worse. Nixon looked worse. It wasn’t what he said but how he said it and how he looked. Kennedy spooked him. But maybe he was sick.”

“That bad?” She took off her coat and hung it on the rack.

“Worse,” he said sourly. “Death warmed over. And as you know, I’m a Republican.”

“There have been rumors to that effect,” she said with a smile.

“Do you want a little drink?” Dana nodded and he went to the liquor cabinet. “Scotch?” She nodded again. The liquor cabinet was a new addition to his office. It was a well-stocked cabinet with bottles and glasses and an ice bucket. “You look wonderful. So grown up, I can hardly believe it.” He poured the drinks. “Well, what’s up?”

She sat in the chair next to the television set, pulling off her gloves slowly, finger by finger. She glanced quickly around the office. Nothing had changed in eighteen months. Same photographs on the walls, same furnishings, except for the liquor cabinet. She thought her father looked older. “Town has changed,” she said, “since I was here last. It really has changed.” He nodded, his back to her, “Except for downtown. Downtown’s no different. And I saw that Jake’s got his shingle out.”

Her father grunted, she could not tell whether in simple acknowledgment or disapproval.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.