with something she might later regret. To think she used to
consider Buckie as one of her better friends! Finally she
spoke in a quiet, controlled voice. "So, are you asking me to
close my eyes, put my head in a hole, and simply pretend that
everything Greg and Rick are doing is just peachy keen?"
242Melody Carlson
"All we're asking is for your newspaper to give a little
more positive support to this development," said Kate. "Is
that too much too expect? Just think how something like this
could change the economy in our town. But if you keep this
up, Maggie, you'll be driving a great big wedge between the
local businesses-and you know what they say about a
house divided, don't you?"
Buckie's expression softened. "All we want is for you to
lay low just long enough for this thing to get solidly off the
ground. Give Greg and Rick a chance to show you that
they're going to do this thing right. Can't you just cut them
a little slack?"
Maggie studied the names on the list before her. Many of
them were local contractors. Even now she was working on
a story about how Cohn Byers' past developments rarely
used local contractors and labor but instead relied heavily
upon out-of-state, nonlicensed, and almost always nonunion
workers, not to mention illegal aliens (although so far no
charges had been pressed in this area). But to bury a story of
this significance went against all that she stood for as a jour-
nalist. She sat up straight in her chair and folded her hands
together on her desk as she looked at the two of them, and
then she calmly spoke. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time.
I'm sorry that TS Development is resorting to what I con-
sider questionable ethics. And I'm also sorry that coverage
of their activities is likely to stir up more controversy and, as
you said, quite possibly divide our town even further." She
paused and took a deep breath. "But I will not compromise
this paper's standards and my morals to play Pollyanna just
so Greg and Rick can continue to take advantage of others
for their own personal gain. I've done my research in hopes
that I'd uncover something more positive. Unfortunately, I
did not. And I have only printed the honest results of my
findings. Quite honestly, I don't know what more I can do,
but you and everyone else should know that I refuse to shirk
from the truth just because a few businesspeople threaten to
boycott this paper. That is the oldest and cheapest trick in Looking for You All My Life243
the book, and it doesn't worry me in the least." She picked
up the letter and held it in the air. "In fact, I'm quite happy
to publish this petition in this week's paper. To tell you the
truth, I don't care if these people purchase their ad space
from Randy Ebbert. I'm sure he'd be very happy to get their
business!"
Buckie and Kate just stared at her without speaking.