| The phone rang at one in the morning,"The Man Downstairs wants one-hundred-percent cooperation," said a raspy, uniden-tified voice. "You ve been mouthing aroundabout not giving it The Party don tstand for city workers that aren t loyal.You follow me?" Don Ellison followed him only too well. He had been working for the city for sixmonths, and he and his new wife were hav-ing a hard time making ends meet. Then amemo came around saying the Partywanted a "voluntary contribution" from allcity workers. Don s share came to a stag-gering $260, and there was nothing "volun-tary" about it. You either gave or the ManDownstairs---the Party s powerful politicalboss--sent up your walking papers. But Don had been brought up with rigidideas about honesty, and it offended him tobecome part of a corrupt system. Little bylittle, first stalling, later angered by thepressures put on him, he resisted--and thepolitical boat began to rock. Urban politics at their worst are realisti-cally portrayed in this fast-moving, crisplywritten novel about a young city employeewho wasn t afraid to be the only man to sayNo. |
商品评论(0条)