Make Me a City by Jonathan Carr

Author:Jonathan Carr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

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Whenever there is a smooth patch of road, John tries to make notes for the article he will pen as soon as he gets back. He invokes history and common sense, he cites the good news that is being ignored, and he prepares a string of pithy attacks against the Eastern detractors.

He curses the twenty-five miles and almost two hours it will take to reach his office. These arguments need to go into print as soon as possible. He can still make tomorrow morning’s papers. He will speak to Joseph Medill at the Chicago Daily Tribune—Joseph owes him a favor—and he will demand two columns on the front page. Once those columns have been read and digested, people will begin to see sense again and disaster will be averted. It is not too late.

In this way, by immersing himself in what must be said and the challenge to be taken on, he suppresses the sense of vertigo that has had him in its grip all day. The only way to avert disaster is to challenge it head-on. The city will not fall apart, and nor will he. He shivers. Dear God, though, what has just happened? For a moment, he wonders whether she might have made it up. But then he recalls the desperation in her voice and he sees the boy in his mind’s eye—the curly hair, the blue eyes, the Roman nose—and he tries to remember and work out the dates. And on top of that, there is the name.

But then again, he reflects a little later, perhaps there is no great harm done. After all, nobody need ever know, not even the boy himself.

The carriage comes to a halt at a crossroads. He writes notes. Submission and Surrender begone. The Path to Glory is paved by Bright Visions of the Future. Stagnation is the Root of all Evil. Learn from the Waters of our own Lake Michigan. Learn from the Wind that Blows, the Waves that Roll, the Tides that Turn and Know that Chicago will be Forever Rising.

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