Read Online The Harrows of Spring by James Howard Kunstler - Free Book Online

day concerning the trade boat. He omitted mentioning the picker pinned through his skull to the tree, in order to avoid a distracting ruckus over it. “Bullock’s right, of course,” Robert continued. “We ought to get our own boat instead of being at the mercy of his moods and whims. To that end, I suggest we take up some kind of collection around town—”
    â€œSounds like a tax,” LaBountie said. “A coming-at-you-sideways tax.”
    â€œNo, it isn’t. Nobody will be forced to pay anything,” Robert said. “And frankly I’m going to ask the farmers to dig a little deeper than the rest.”
    Ben Deaver made a face and appealed to his fellow farmers Todd Zucker and Ned Larmon, but they would not venture to argue about it. In the new times, in the absence of big corporations and a so-called consumer economy, wealth came from land used productively, putting farmers on the higher rungs of the economic ladder.
    â€œWe’d be looking altogether for about a hundred ounces of silver,” Robert said. “Is that right, Daniel?”
    â€œMaybe a little more depending on the boat,” Daniel said. “Or four, five ounces of gold.”
    Ned Larmon whistled through his teeth.
    â€œWait a minute,” Jason LaBountie said. “He’s not a member of this board. He can’t participate in the discussion at the same time he reports on it.”
    â€œRelax, will you, Jason—” Loren said.
    â€œAnyway, we didn’t vote to admit any news media to village board meetings.”
    â€œMove to vote to admit journalists to the meeting,” Sam Hutto said.
    â€œSecond,” Robbie Furnival said.
    â€œCall to vote,” Terry Einhorn said.
    â€œAll in favor?” Robert said.
    Nine hands went up, plus Leslie Einhorn’s.
    â€œShe’s not a voting member of this board,” LaBountie said.
    â€œMotion is carried in any case,” Robert said. “Press is welcome to observe the meeting,”
    â€œ Move for public discussion,” Loren said. “So he can speak too.”
    â€œSecond,” Terry Einhorn said.
    â€œOh for chrissake. What does the kid know about boats anyway?” LaBountie asked.
    â€œI bought a cargo scow at Buffalo summer before last, sir,” Daniel said, “and sailed on Lake Erie.”
    â€œDid you run freight?” Todd Zucker asked.
    â€œNever got to,” Daniel said. “I lost her in a storm on the shoals off Sandusky.”
    â€œNot much of a sailor, then, were you?”
    â€œIt was a wicked gale, sir, as they are on the lakes, and it came up fast without warning.”
    â€œSorry to hear it. But how’d you get the money for the boat in the first place?” LaBountie asked. “A hundred ounces of silver, or so you say.”
    â€œI had it,” Daniel said.
    â€œOh, you just had it? A veritable fortune?” LaBountie said. “Got any more where you had it from? Maybe you can buy the town a boat. And, by the way, what did you pay for this newspaper? And who to?”
    â€œYou’re out of line, Jason,” Robert said.
    â€œIt was an abandoned property,” Daniel said.
    â€œWell, shouldn’t unclaimed, abandoned property become an asset of the town, of the common weal, so to speak?” LaBountie said. “An editor, for one, ought to have some sense of the public interest, don’t you think? Oh, and I assume this newspaper is intended to be a moneymaking operation.”
    â€œOf course I intend to make a living at it.”
    â€œMaybe you should kick back some of your profits into the village kitty and then we don’t have to levy a coming-at-you-sideways tax at folks that barely have a pot to piss in, pardon my French.”
    â€œOther commercial operations are being run in abandoned properties,” Daniel said. “Schroeder’s creamery was a garage in the old times owned by one Butch Casper.”
    â€œButch