Lumby on the Air by Gail Fraser

Author:Gail Fraser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-06-18T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY - NINE

Shaw

A stretch limousine from Rocky Mount Airport maneuvered down the hairpin curves of Priests Pass on its way to Lumby. Vince Shaw, a tall, lanky man in his early fifties, stretched out his legs in the backseat, taking no notice of the natural beauty that surrounded him.

He felt time was passing too quickly, and time was one asset his vast wealth could not buy. In the last year or so, his ink-black hair had started tuning gray, and now, he needed to keep a pair of reading glasses handy. His body was stiff from the long flight from New York City, although his private plane had offered more comfort than any commercial flight would have.

The chauffeur slowed the car to watch a moose graze by the side of the road. “Gorgeous country out here,” he said with an appreciative smile.

Shaw ignored the comment and put a cell phone to his ear. The conversation lasted no more than sixty seconds, during which he spoke only four words: “Get it done, now.”

After hanging up, Shaw reached over to the control panel and turned up the radio. Carter Reed was artfully juggling callers a mile a minute.

“Never listen to that man,” the driver commented. “He’s just another Genghis Khan.”

Shaw considered the remark. “You give Carter Reed too much credit—Genghis Kahn was brilliant.”

“Maybe. But Reed’s too extreme for me.”

“I find him totally anemic and innocuous, but I think his callers are absolutely fascinating.”

“But he incites the fights,” the driver contended.

“He’s not the fighter, and that’s the critical difference,” Shaw said, as if making the closing statement at a trial.

The chauffeur nodded, although he didn’t understand the point his passenger was making.

Shaw closed his eyes and listened to the argument on the radio, which had become personally vindictive. “Utterly fascinating,” he said to himself, and then raised his voice so the driver could hear. “If nothing else, Carter Reed deserves credit for understanding human nature and benefiting from the very worst in us all. He certainly is a successful parasite.”

Driving past the Wayside Tavern, Shaw glanced up at a freshly painted sign on the right-hand side of the road.

WELCOME TO LUMBY

This Year’s Host of the Chatham County Fair July 17-22

A plastic pink flamingo wearing blue shorts and a blue-and-white striped rugby shirt sat at the base of the sign. His long, skinny legs were bent at the knee so that he could rest a drawing pad on his lap.

That very morning, Jimmy D had taken Hank off his job of manning the fairgrounds gate and asked him to act as the town’s official fair ambassador, greeting people as they arrived in Lumby. Hank, though, had much more serious business at hand, or at wing, as it were: the duct tape competition. Between the quick hello waves to all who entered town along Main Street, he remained focused on the design of his entry.

Lying on the ground was a book he had checked out of the library that came highly recommended: The Coral Reefs of the World.

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