Death of a City by Lionel White

Author:Lionel White [White, Lionel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Zenit champion!
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

seven

1 CONSIDERING everything, the Oakdale Country Club was weathering it pretty well. The biggest inconvenience, of course, was the fact that the telephones were out. It meant that a number of members, who were unable to get in touch with their homes, had felt obliged to leave and make sure everything was all right. But those whose wives were present and who felt secure that their families were safe, stayed on and sort of made a party out of it. A couple of others, including Knocky Higgins, who couldn’t have cared less whether his wife was safe or not, stayed on anyway.

Miles Overstreet’s wife, Beth, was not at the clubhouse and, so far as Miles knew, was home alone in their ranch house out at the north end of the city in the new and quite expensive Far Hills development. The development was well away from the center of town and was protected by private watchmen so Miles could have felt pretty sure that Beth would be safe. He, like the others at the

club, knew by now about what was happening in the colored sector I of the city and was well aware of the rioting going on. He would, of course, have felt a lot better if he were able to call Beth on the phone. Not being able to, he would have left some time ago if he

hadn’t been on his way to being really drunk.

It had all started with that business at the card table. He’d gone into the bar and started downing one straight drink after the next until, by the time the first wild rumors had become facts, he was so far gone that he actually hesitated to get in his car and drive. He was worried, of course, and he knew he should leave. But somehow or other, he just hadn’t.

What really was bothering Miles wasn’t that he worried about Beth’s being home alone. It was the fear that, if he returned home, he’d find that Beth wasn’t there. And he knew that, if he did return home and Beth wasn’t there, he would worry ten times as much, not knowing for sure where she was.

The rioting in town had nothing to do with it. His problem with Beth had nothing at all to do with rioting.

Tony Meriot, in spite of the power failure, was doing the best he could. He had even managed to find time to put a pot of coffee on the stove and get a couple of cups into Mr. Overstreet, who certainly was in need of something to bring him around. Tony himself was behind the bar, making the drinks, and his biggest worry was that they would very soon run out of ice, with the electricity off and the ice machine and refrigerators out of business. Fortunately, he’d managed not only to find a couple of dozen candles but had also dug up four kerosene lamps. There was sufficient light, just as long as everyone stayed in the barroom.

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