Sons of Fortune

Paul Holbourn, the mayor of Madison, was next up on the screen. The septuagenarian politician invited everyone to visit this picturesque seaside town, which would decide who would be the next governor of the state.

“How do you read it?” asked Nat, as Tom continued to enter numbers into his calculator. “Fletcher leads at the moment by 1,269 and at the last election, the Republicans took Madison by 1,312.”

“Then we must be favorites?” ventured Nat.

“I wish it was that easy,” said Tom, “because there’s a further complication we have to consider.”

“And what’s that?”

“The present governor of the state was born and raised in Madison, so there could be a considerable personal vote somewhere in there.”

“I should have gone to Madison one more time,” said Nat.

“You visited the place twice, which was once more than Fletcher managed.”

“I ought to call him,” said Nat, “and make it clear that I’m not conceding.”

Tom nodded his agreement as Nat walked over to the phone. He didn’t have to look up the senator’s private number because he had dialed it every evening during the trial.

“Hi,” said a voice, “this is the governor’s residence.”

“Not yet it isn’t,” said Nat firmly.

“Hello, Mr. Cartwright,” said Lucy, “were you hoping to speak to the governor?”

“No, I wanted to speak to your father.”

“Why, are you conceding?”

“No, I’ll leave him to do that in person tomorrow, when, if you behave yourself, I’ll be offering you a job.”

Fletcher grabbed the telephone, “I’m sorry about that, Nat,” he said, “I presume you’re calling to say all bets are off until tomorrow when we meet at high noon?”

“Yes, and now you mention it, I’m planning to play Gary Cooper,” said Nat.

“Then I’ll see you on Main Street, sheriff.”

“Just be thankful it’s not Ralph Elliot you’re up against.”

“Why?” asked Fletcher.

“Because right now he would be in Madison filling up ballot boxes with extra votes.”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference,” said Fletcher.

“Why not?” asked Nat.

“Because if Elliot had been my opponent, I would have already won by a landslide.”

Book Seven

Numbers

54

It took Nat about an hour to drive to Madison, and when he reached the outskirts of the town, he could have been forgiven for thinking the little borough had been chosen as the venue for the seventh game in the World Series.

The highway was filled with cars festooned with emblems of red, white and blue, with donkeys and elephants staring blankly out of numerous back windows. When he took the turnoff for Madison, population 12,372, half the vehicles left the highway like steel filings drawn toward a magnet.