Undiscovered Country by Kelly O'Connor McNees

Author:Kelly O'Connor McNees
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2018-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

“Nora, just what in the hell—did I lose a bet I don’t know about?” I tried to keep my voice light, but I was tired and a little drunk and it was hard to breathe in the enclosed space of the phone booth in the hotel lobby. It was about nine that evening and I had just wired my report— an opus in three pages fueled by sore feet and despair—to Harry.

Nora’s voice was bright. “There, you see? I told you it wouldn’t be as dull as you feared. Now, I have to run. We are dining with the attaché to Panama, and I just popped up here to check my messages before they serve dessert.”

Her breeziness annoyed me. It had been such a trying day, and here she was off to crème brûlée and hot chocolate from a silver pot. “Nora, hang on for just a moment. I think you need to know that— well, something is very wrong down here in coal country. The way these folks are being forced to live … I knew it was going to be bad, but it’s so much… worse.”

I heard talking in the background and then the crackle of Nora pressing her hand over the mouthpiece and giving someone an instruction. Another crackle, and she came back on. “And this is exactly why you’re there, Hick. Put it all in your report. Wire it to Harry—then the wheels will start to turn.”

I sighed, annoyed.

“I’m sorry, darling, I wish I could talk longer, but I really do have to go.”

“Nora,” I nearly shouted. “Wait. Just a minute. And listen. The report is in. But it’s not enough …” In a rush, I told her everything I had witnessed on my tour with Clarence. And I could almost see how, as the horror tumbled out of my mouth, she paused in her rush to get back to the party, sat down with the phone cradled against her shoulder. I dared to hope she began to take notes.

“And no doctor has been out to see them?” she asked.

“No. Clarence says they won’t come unless they are guaranteed payment. And of course these people don’t have a penny. I just don’t see how a three-page report is going to do them any good. This is a goddamn emergency down here,” I said. “Like a natural disaster— except there’s nothing natural about it.”

Nora was quiet for another moment and then I heard more rustling, the squeak of a hinge. “Just a minute,” she called to someone.

“I know you have to go,” I said. “I know you are surrounded, every minute, by people who want something from you.”

She did not reply and I heard still more noise, someone calling from the hallway. The suffering in Scotts Run was desperate, and I wanted Nora to conclude, as I had, that the situation was urgent, based on the facts at hand. But I had more selfish aims too: I wanted it to matter that those facts were coming from me in particular.

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