Purity by Jonathan Franzen Read Free Book Online Page A

intention of giving consumers a large share of the tax benefits.
    â€œNot interested,” Mr. Butcavage said.
    â€œWell, you know,” Pip said, “quite a few of your neighbors have expressed strong interest in forming a collective. You might do a little asking around and see what they’re thinking.”
    â€œI don’t talk to my neighbors.”
    â€œWell, no, of course, I’m not saying you have to if you don’t want to. But the reason they’re interested is that your community has a chance to work together for cleaner, cheaper energy and real tax savings.”
    One of Igor’s precepts was that any call in which the words cleaner , cheaper , and tax savings could be repeated at least five times would result in a positive response.
    â€œWhat is it you’re selling?” Mr. Butcavage said a mite less gruffly.
    â€œOh, this is not a sales call,” Pip lied. “We’re trying to organize community support for a thing called waste energy. It’s a cleaner, cheaper, tax-saving way to solve two of your community’s biggest problems at once. I’m talking about high energy costs and solid-waste disposal. We can help you burn your garbage at clean, high temperatures and feed the electricity directly into the grid, at a potentially significant cost savings for you and real benefit to the planet. Can I tell you a little bit more about how it works?”
    â€œWhat’s your angle?” Mr. Butcavage said.
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œSomebody’s paying you to call me when I’m trying to take a nap. What’s in it for them?”
    â€œWell, basically we’re facilitators. You and your neighbors probably don’t have the time or the expertise to organize a waste-energy micro-collective on your own, and so you’re missing out on cleaner, cheaper electricity and certain tax advantages. We and our partners have the experience and the know-how to set you up for greater energy independence.”
    â€œYeah, but who pays you?”
    â€œWell, as you may know, there’s an enormous amount of state and federal money available for renewable-energy initiatives. We take a share of that, to cover our costs, and pass the rest of the savings on to your community.”
    â€œIn other words, they tax me to pay for these initiatives, and maybe I get some of it back.”
    â€œThat’s an interesting point,” Pip said. “But it’s actually a little more complicated. In many cases, you’re not paying any direct tax to fund the initiatives. But you do , potentially, reap the tax benefits, and you get cleaner, cheaper energy, too.”
    â€œBurning my garbage.”
    â€œYes, the new technology for that is really incredible. Super clean, super economical.” Was there any way to say tax savings again? Pip had never ceased to dread, in these calls, what Igor called the pressure point, but she now seemed to have reached it with Mr. Butcavage. She took a breath and said: “It sounds like this might be something you’re interested in learning more about?”
    Mr. Butcavage muttered something, possibly “burn my own garbage,” and hung up on her.
    â€œYeah, bite me,” she said to the dead line. Then she felt bad about it. Not only had Mr. Butcavage’s questions been reasonable, he also had an unfortunate name and no friends in his neighborhood. He was probably a lonely person like her mother, and Pip felt helplessly compassionate toward anyone who reminded her of her mother.
    Because her mother didn’t drive, and because she didn’t need a photo ID in a small community like Felton, and because the farthest she ever went from Felton was downtown Santa Cruz, her only official identification was her Social Security card, which bore the name Penelope Tyler (no middle name). To get this card, using a name she’d assumed as an adult, she would have had to present either a forged birth