Miranda's War by Howard; Foster Read Free Book Online

Dad.”
    â€œThen it must be good,” said Archer. “You didn’t fillet and skewer his prose with that Track Changes tab?”
    â€œIt’s very nicely written. He’s developing a discerning and ironic voice. And I know a few Proust scholars.”
    â€œYou know scholars in everything,” said Cody.
    â€œRejecting the compliment?”
    â€œNo, but I wouldn’t want you as a teacher.”
    Miranda’s cell phone emitted the first bar of the second movement of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, the ring tone she had assigned to Julia Nickerson. She put her drink down and reached over to the coffee table.
    Archer sighed and shook his head.
    â€œJulia, what’s going on?”
    â€œWe just got word from the Hulls, they’ve agreed to repaint the barn. No appeal.”
    â€œFantastic, so it’s over. We won.”
    â€œYup. I guess you proved your point.”
    â€œHull performed his own cost-benefit analysis. That’s what this is all about.”
    Julia signed off and immediately called Karl to tell him all that Miranda had said.
    â€œCost-benefit analysis?” he said slowly. “Is she an economist, or should I say would-be economist, too?”
    â€œShe never mentioned economics. There were a lot of academic studies thrown my way, the broken glass theory and this sociologist who writes in The New Yorker , but not that.”
    â€œSociologists don’t write for The New Yorker .”
    â€œI mean some study that was discussed in The New Yorker .”
    â€œDid she cite it?”
    â€œNot really. She mentioned the name in passing.”
    â€œShe knows best,” he said. “She always has, and she always will. What does she want?”
    â€œShe has this well thought out.” Julia paused and grappled for the right word. “I guess we would call it a cosmology. She sees a giant struggle for our future. It’s all Lincoln versus the developers. They’re using more sophisticated methods to gobble us up, and we’re just sitting on our hands. She wants to counterattack.”
    â€œAnd what the hell are we supposed to do?”
    â€œEnforce our ordinance, not allow anyone any slack.”
    â€œAnd what does that have to do with the developers?”
    â€œThe more public we are in enforcing it, the less likely they will be to pick a fight with us.”
    â€œAnd what empirical evidence does she offer?”
    â€œNone, I suppose. It’s theory.”
    â€œI come back to my earlier question. What does this woman want? Usually they’re happy with the husband, the home in Lincoln, the listing in the Social Register. They don’t have cosmologies.”
    â€œBut she’s not.”
    â€œShe wants power, I suppose, my position.”
    â€œThat wouldn’t satisfy her. She wants to use that power.”
    â€œTo what end?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œFind out.”
    Karl paused to pull off his black half glasses and rub his temples.
    â€œI gave you a free pass on the Hull vote,” he continued. “I thought you’d get close enough to crack that porcelain veneer. But she didn’t let her guard down enough.”
    â€œSo do I get another shot at her?”
    â€œYes,” he said, nodding vigorously into his phone.

Chapter Eight
    They met for a pastry and espresso at the AKA Bistro in Lincoln, the only restaurant in town. The tiny commercial district consisted of this, a bicycle shop, an upscale market, the headquarters of the Audubon Society and the commuter rail station. Miranda immediately recognized Stephen Rokeby from his Internet pictures. He was fair-haired, attractive, but distracted. And he did not recognize her despite the fact that her picture was on the town of Lincoln’s website. She stood up and gave him a slight wave.
    â€œMrs. Dalton?”
    â€œHow do you do?” she said and extended her right hand.
    â€œVery nice to meet you.