“Mrs. Lintig’s arrival.”
“Oh,” she said, “he knew that before he left. He didn’t go until after he’d heard about her.”
“And he left you on the job to cover the big event and get the paper out?”
She drew more diagrams before she answered. Then she said, “It isn’t a big event from a news standpoint, Donald. No one here cares very much about Mrs. Lintig. That’s ancient history. The people who knew her moved away. They were the younger set. When business left, they left.”
“Just what did happen to this town?” I asked.
She said, “The bottom dropped out. The railroad moved. The Pennant mine struck a water pocket and the works were flooded. They were never able to pump them out. It’s just been a long succession of things like that. After a city starts on the toboggan, people leave.”
“Your uncle went through the boom?”
“Oh, yes. He’s a native. His feet are anchored in Oakview.”
“How about you?”
Her eyes sparkled with the intensity of her hatred. “If I could only find some way to shake the dust of this dead town off my feet,” she said, “I’d be on my way so quick it would surprise you.” She pointed her finger towards a little closet, and said, “My hat and coat are in there. Show me a way to make a living in the city, and I won’t even stop to put on my hat and coat.”