Not Quite Dead by John MacLachlan Gray

Author:John MacLachlan Gray [Gray, John MacLachlan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780312374716
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2007-05-14T04:00:00+00:00

OTHER THAN ON the open sea and in the Sahara desert, only in America is a man truly sovereign and self-determining—if only because here it is uniquely possible for him to disappear without a trace, and to transform into somebody else, without leaving the country.

Without alerting a soul—partner, enemy, creditor, police, mistress, wife—a man may leave his house on Monday, catch an omnibus to his bank, withdraw all his money, travel five hundred miles, and literally be somebody else by the beginning of next week, with a new partner, a new mistress, a new set of creditors, and no one to call him to task.

Liberty takes many forms, some more savory than others.

Every man has a dream, and mine was simple, if somewhat farfetched: as Mr. and Mrs. Henri Le Rennet, Elmira Royster and I would travel to Philadelphia via Baltimore, locate Eddie, and one way or another end the threat to my life and reputation.

But what then? Return to Washington College Hospital, and a life I found so devoid of interest that I contemplated ending it, on a daily basis? Would Elmira Royster return to her shell of a house and her tactical engagement to await the demise of her staff, and her fiancé, and herself? How much better if she and I were to simply continue together to San Francisco, as Henri Le Rennet and his wife Elmira, and begin anew, leaving Eddie Poe behind, and ourselves as well!

I imagined inventing a suitable French ancestry for Mr. Le Rennet, and purchasing certificates to prove it. I might join the church of my wife’s choice. I might set up a private practice, patching people up, treating their aches and pains, delivering their babies. For the first time since my birth I might be, dare I even pronounce the word, content.

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