Pale Gray for Guilt Read Online Free PDF

marina wasn't the best use when you think of the tax base and employment and so on. He said he'd overlook the slur on his honesty because a man in trouble says things he doesn't mean. He said people just don't know how much talent it takes to run a small business, and I'd probably be happier in some other line of work. He said that he didn't know whether Press LaFrance was interested in my ten acres or not, but maybe if I could talk to him he might make me an offer, but I shouldn't expect too much because the business was in bad shape. He said that people in trouble get to thinking the whole world is against them, and just because certain necessary county improvements were hurting my business, it didn't mean it was done on purpose. He said thousands of little businesses go broke every year in Florida, and I shouldn't think I was an exception. So we left and Jan was crying before we got to the car. Humiliation and frustration."
    "You're bucking the power structure, Tush. You can't hardly win."
    "I thought I could. When I saw LaFrance, I went along. He gave me the same line, as if they'd rehearsed it. I told him to make an offer. He said he wasn't interested. He said maybe if it came on the market later on, he might make an offer on a foreclosure price, but he didn't think it was worth the mortgage balance. A little over sixty thousand, that is. And we put fifty-one thousand in it. So I had to open my big mouth. I leaned across his desk and told him he was never going to get his hands on my property. I'd leave Jan there to run it and go back to sales work, and put every dime I could spare against that mortgage. So they squeezed a little harder."
    "HOW?"
    "First they extended that road contract another hundred days. Then they sent out inspectors from the County Bureau of Services, and they condemned my wiring, and the septic tank drain fields, and my well, and lifted my license to do business. With the license gone, the bank said I come up with the whole amount of the mortgage in thirty days or they foreclose. It's way past due. We did well for a while there, Trav. I didn't overextend. If they'd left me alone, I had enough business to pay for the boat storage rack and the motel enlargement. We were going to have one of the best little operations in that whole area. I tried to see Commissioner Hazzard again. I waited and a couple of sheriff's deputies showed up and said I could either leave or get picked up for loitering. So Jan and I talked it over and decided the best thing to do would be lay it all out for Mr. Gary Santo. We decided he was probably big enough so that he didn't even know what was going on up there, and would tell them to put a stop to it if he did know. We decided that probably LaFrance just got too eager to do a big job for Santo and do it as cheap as possible. I put it all down on paper. I guess that between us we must have rewritten that letter about nine times, and Janine typed it on the old machine in the motel office, and we sent it down here Special Delivery, marked personal."
    "Any answer?"
    "Verbal. From that girl I was sitting with. Her name is Mary Smith. I came down and tried to get to Santo. She was as far as I got. She said she'd meet me out here, because she had to catch a flight. Cold as a meat locker, boy. Yes, Mr. Santo had read my letter personally. Yes, he had an informal agreement with Mr. LaFrance. But Mr. LaFrance is not employed by Mr. Santo. Yes, Mr. LaFrance is under considerable pressure by Mr. Santo to produce the results promised insofar as land acquisition is con cerned. Mr. Santo feels no personal responsibility for your plight. He is not running a charitable organization. I wanted to know if I could see him in prison. No. Sorry. But no."
    "Now what?"
    "We lose it. That's all. The grace period is about gone. Januae is taking it hard. It's a lot of money and work and time down the drain, and nothing to show for it. I… I wish I'd come to you sooner, Tray, before it got to be too