The Twenty-Seventh City (Bestselling Backlist)

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Book: Read The Twenty-Seventh City (Bestselling Backlist) for Free Online
Authors: Jonathan Franzen
weaknesses.
    He was viceless, honest, capable, and calm to the point of complacency. For a building contractor, his business record was unbelievably spotless. He bid only on projects for which there was a clear-cut need. He hired independent consultants to review his work. Every July he sent his employees an itemized accounting of company expenditures. The only enemies he had today were the labor unions he’d thwarted back in 1962—and the unions were no longer a factor in St. Louis politics.
    Probst’s home life also seemed to be in order. Singh had overheard a few domestic tiffs, but they were nothing more than weeds, shallow-rooted, sprouting from seams in solid pavement. The tranquil image of Probst’s family was, in fact, what St. Louis seemed to admire most about him. Singh had gleaned an assortment of citations from the library of tapes that R. Gopal had been cataloguing for Jammu. In one, Mayor Pete Wesley was speaking with the treasurer of the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council.
     
    WESLEY (+ R. Crawford, Sat 9/10, 10:15, City Hall)
    PW: No, I haven’t talked to him yet. But I did see Barbara at the ball game on Thursday and I asked her if he’d given it any thought.
    RC: At the ball game.
    PW: Isn’t that something? If she was any other lady, you’d think she was nuts.
    RC: Going alone, you mean.
    PW: I don’t see how she pulls it off. Anybody else…Can you imagine seeing somebody like Betty Norris sitting by herself in the box seats?
    RC: What did Barbara say?
    PW: We talked for quite a while. I never actually found out how Martin feels, but she certainly had her mind made up.
    RC: Which way?
    PW: Oh, for. Definitely for. She’s a great little lady. And you know, for a small family, isn’t it amazing how often you run into them?
     
    Ripley (Rolf, Audrey, Mon 9/5, 22:15)
    RC: Doesn’t Luisa seem like one of those children that something could happen to? She was so sweet today. Everything’s so perfect about her, isn’t it hard not to think something terrible will happen? ( Pause .) Like a doll you could break. ( Pause .) Don’t you think?
    RR: No.
     
    Meisner (Chuck, Bea, Sat 9/10, 01:30)
    CM: That was Martin. He wanted to make sure we made it home all right. ( Pause .) I’m sure he couldn’t sleep till he’d called. ( Pause .) Did I really look that drunk?
    BM: We all did, Chuck.
    CM: It’s funny how you don’t notice it so much with them. I mean, they make you comfortable.
    BM: They’re a very special couple.
    CM: They are. A very special couple.
     
    It was unfortunate, Singh thought, that R. Gopal would no longer have time to sort these recorded conversations and put them into such a usable form. “I think we’re past that phase,” Jammu had said. “I have something else for Gopal.”
     
    Murphy (Chester, Jane, Alvin, 9/19, 18:45)
    JANE: Know who I saw today, Alvin? Luisa Probst. Remember her?
    ALVN: ( chewing ) Sort of.
    JANE: She’s turned into a very pretty girl.
    ALVE: ( chewing )
    JANE: I thought it’d be nice if you called her up sometime. I’m sure she’d be thrilled to hear from you.
    ALVN: ( chewing )
    JANE: I’m just saying, it might be a nice thing to do.
    ALVN: ( chewing )
    JANE: I remembered her as being a little chubby. I hadn’t seen her in, oh, three years. I never get to Webster Groves anymore. I see her mother all the time, though. ( Pause .) I think it would be very, very nice if you gave her a call.
    CHES: Drop it, Jane.
     
    A very pretty girl. A special couple. Singh was careful not to infer that Probst’s lovely family contributed to his actual power in the city, but the family was obviously a source of unusual strength. Strength like this could amount to a weakness. Even Baxti had recognized this. In his summary he’d written:
    UnCorrupted in 72, and worse.
    (In 1972 someone on the Slum Removal Board had requested a kickback and Probst had gone to the press with the story.)
    He is haveing no sins but morality. He will die: every man is moral. This

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