When the White House Was Ours by Porter Shreve

Author:Porter Shreve [Shreve, Porter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

There once was a Georgia gov

Who used to he tight as a glove,

But he won the election,

Then got an erection,

And now he believes in free love.

While Cinnamon giggled like a schoolchild, Tino got up from the couch and said he wanted to talk to me for a minute. I followed him back into the hallway. Molly and Cleo stayed for Chancellor’s analysis.

“I’ve got something to show you.” Tino squinted as if peering through smoke. “I gave your uncle the fireworks because I wanted to make room in these pockets.” He opened his coat and pulled out a handful of knives and forks. “This is some serious antique silver. See these mother-of-pearl handles and this little insignia on the back?” He flipped over one of the knives and showed me the elaborate D monogrammed at the base of the blade, below a hallmark of symbols including a crown and a lion waving its paw.

“You can’t take those,” I said.

“They won’t even notice. This place is a gold mine. They had drawers and drawers full.” Tino rubbed his red eyes with the sleeve of his coat. “Bailey’s lackey, Frank, kept following us around, so we had to divert him. Who knew the guy was a doper? Linc distracted him with the pipe and I went in for the kill.”

I wondered why Tino had pulled me aside, and figured he was just being his exhibitionist self. Then he lectured me on Bailey’s colonialism and how most of the stuff in this house was stolen from Africa or the U.K. or somewhere else in the first place, and it was only right that we steal some back.

“Not only that,” he said. “But if someone fucks me, I’m going to fuck them back. Bailey trashed my shrine to Chairman Mao, and that was irreplaceable. So I’m taking some of his chattels. Here’s today’s lesson: when the world’s out of whack, it’s up to you to set it right again.”

I was thinking about Tino’s logic when the maid with the mannish hands came down the hall and said that dinner was about to be served.

The hippies made short work of their carved roast beef, scalloped potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and had gone through the line a second time before most others had gotten firsts. Tino still had his Afghan coat on, and I worried that people could hear the jingle of pilfered silver in his pockets. But he seemed cool as a fan as he piled his plate high.

I caught up with my mother, who raved about Quinn and said she was sure after tonight’s performance that we were going to attract more students. Quinn had yet to eat; he was busy working the room.

It was just after dessert—a yellow cake with white frosting, topped with icing in the shape of an American flag—that the house fell silent and Harry Reasoner announced that ABC was now ready to put the state of Pennsylvania in the Democrats’ column. Ohio is leaning toward the challenger, but it’s academic now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.