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Somebody up the line got a bee in his bonnet and
     decided this was a great idea and we should do something with it, like, immediately.”
    “Hi, Phebe.” When I was development director, we ran into each other periodically
     at various events and conferences around the city, and I’d always enjoyed her company.
     I was pleased that she’d reached out to the Society for this project—it never hurt
     to earn some goodwill from a city department. “I know how that goes. I hope we can
     help. Let me introduce you to one of our newer staff members, Nicholas Naylor.”
    Nicholas took a step forward and extended a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Fleming.”
    “Phebe, please.”
    “Nicholas is overhauling our electronic cataloging system and database,” I said, “which,
     as you might guess, is a huge task, and we’re glad to have him. I thought he could
     use your request as a kind of test case. So, what are you looking for?”
    Phebe leaned forward in her chair. “Confidentially, the Water Department has had an
     offer from a large local corporation, which shall be nameless, to give us a nice contribution
     to support this project. They’re trying to polish up their public image. What they
     want is to retroactively present themselves as ecologically sensitive, or if that’s
     not possible, then they want to look proactive now. There may be a good case to be
     made, but we want to be able to back it up with documentation, so this doesn’t come
     back to bite us. What do you think, Nell?”
    “I can see where they want to go with this, but I can’t speak for what’s in our collections.
     Don’t you already have a scholarly history for the Water Works?”
    “We do, but it’s kind of dated. And now we want to take a different slant, pushing
     the health and safety aspects.”
    “Nicholas, what do you think?” I asked.
    “How detailed do you want this to be, and when do you need it?” Nicholas didn’t beat
     around the bush, I noted.
    “The good news is, the city is willing to give us a break—it’s already past the deadline
     for submitting requests for funding, but they want to keep this corporation happy
     so they’re bending the rules for us. The bad news is, they want the information and
     proposal by the end of the next week. Is that doable?”
    Nicholas glanced at me briefly before replying. “Let me see what I can pull quickly.
     I can give Nell a summary of what I’ve found, say by the end of this week, and then
     you and she can confer. Would that suit you?”
    “Sounds good to me. I’ve got my people working on the rest of the proposal. Nell,
     do you approve?”
    “Sure. We can talk when Nicholas has had a chance to pull some things together. Actually
     I’d like to know more about the Water Works, so I’ll look forward to seeing what we
     have in our files.”
    Phebe bounced up. “That’s great! Thank you so much—I know it’s a pain to have things
     dumped on you unexpectedly, but we only just found out ourselves. I’ll owe you one.”
    “I won’t forget. Let me walk you out.” As I escorted Phebe down the hall to the elevator,
     I saw Nicholas slip out of my office, heading toward his cubicle down the hall. When
     I’d waved good-bye to Phebe at the front door, I went back to talk with him.
    “Think you can handle this?” I asked
    “Of course. I think I know what she has in mind, so I can tailor my search. I’ll have
     something in your hands in a couple of days.”
    “That would be great, Nicholas.”

CHAPTER 5
    Anyone who approaches Philadelphia by way of Amtrak or in a car on the Schuylkill Expressway would have to be blind not to notice the
     Fairmount Water Works, which stretch along the river in all their Neoclassical glory,
     next to the more garish illuminated Boathouse Row. Philadelphia was the first major
     American city to consider safe municipal water as the city’s responsibility, spurred
     by the yellow fever epidemics at the end of the eighteenth