"Robert Reed - Graffiti" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

ROBERT REED

GRAFFITI

It was a river town known locally for drunks and evil women, mayhem and crimes
too sordid to mention in decent company. But in the 1890s, a grisly and unsolved
triple murder made headlines across the country, and simple shame forced its
good Christian citizens to act. Originally called Demon's Landing the town
renamed itself Riverview. Corrupt law officers were replaced with a modern,
professional police force. The town and county were declared dry. New schools
were staffed with young women of unimpeachable character. Zoning laws and civic
projects brought a sense of order, while fortuitous fires drove out the
notorious families. It was even alleged that the mayor, a determined young
pragmatist, hired a wandering mystic to help protect Riverview from the criminal
element.

According to some, the mystic was a wild-eyed, tubercular man with a gaudy name
painted on his mule-drawn wagon. Yet just a few years later, no one seemed able
to recall his name or which direction he had taken as he left town. Hopefully he
was never paid for his questionable work. A terrible crime wave heralded the new
century's arrival. A favorite school teacher was molested in the most heinous
fashion, the bank was robbed twice in one year, and both a Methodist minister
and the beloved mayor were shot and killed by thieves. The only blessing was
that the rejuvenated police force, led by a young man named Bethans, managed
quick arrests, and under interrogation, every suspect confessed in full. The
murderers were hanged with suitable fanfare, while thieves and rapists spent
years in the state penitentiary; and for the first time, the river's vulgar
souls began to say that if you wanted to have some fun, you'd best have it
somewhere other than Riverview.

The next decades were built on small events and modest prosperity. Crime wasn't
abolished, but violence seemed to always end with quick arrests and telling
punishments. By the late 1960s, the little river town had grown into a tidy city
of fifteen thousand, its elderly brick downtown nestled against the wide brown
river, handsome older homes hidden on the wooded bluffs, and higher still, where
the country opened up and flattened, there were the sketchy beginnings of urban
sprawl.

There was both a public and Catholic high school. Macon Lewis played quarterback
for the public school's lackluster team. Eddie Cane was his classmate and best
friend. He lacked Macon's size or cookiness, but Eddie was the better athlete,
one of the top cross country runners in the state, and because of it, the boys
were social equals as well as friends.

Macon was six months younger, yet he played the role of older brother,
introducing his introverted, somewhat artistic sibling to the larger world.
Eddie's first date and first sex were both arranged by Macon. Eddie got drunk
for the first time with Budweiser bought by his best friend. As a team, they had
explored the wooded bluffs, pulled monster catfish from the churning river, and
when Macon heard a crazy rumor about the old storm sewer beneath Main Street, he