Mayor Barton was fully dressed. He hadn’t heard Ransom leave, but he trusted his gut enough to check the room when he woke up. He felt the cool air flowing from under the hallway door leading to his guest room, and suspected the window was open. He tried the door quietly, but it was locked. A quick glance outside would confirm his suspicions. The window was partially opened.
Barton made his way around to the garage. He kept his pistol by the nightstand, but didn’t want to worry Darlene. For now, he would have to settle on the 30/30. The rifle was his lucky gun anyway; it had scored him a deer every year since he bought it back in ’81. Already this year, he’d landed a six-point that wandered too close to his father’s garden.
Paul loaded the rifle, but didn’t chamber a bullet. He gently placed the gun in the passenger seat of his car. The problem at this point was going to be trying to figure out where Ransom went. The Mayor figured that the most likely place would be the school, but he wasn’t sure. He decided to make a pass down Main Street and at the very least, get Tommy’s help.
Tommy had been Sheriff of Bethlehem for only three years. He was clumsy and slow, but he was born and raised in Bethlehem and that counted for a hell of lot to Paul. Unlike Doc, or Reverend Baker, he knew he could count on Tommy in a clutch. Besides, Tommy had been complaining about the lack of activity in Bethlehem for some time. Paul knew Tommy well enough to know what he meant: Tommy needed something (or someone) to shoot.
Within fifteen minutes, Barton had scoured the downtown area, roused Tommy, and told him to load up and meet him at the school. Barton pulled into the school parking lot, and leaned up against his car. He couldn’t outright kill the New York reporter. Too many people in town had seen him already. Besides, the disappearance would only bring more meddlers and spurn a whole new set of questions. Barton wasn’t sure if Bethlehem was ready for them.
As Tommy’s squad car pulled up alongside him, Barton hoped for a moment that they wouldn’t find Ransom, and that somehow, another opportunity might present itself.
A novel, presented in chapters.
A small town high school football team has gone largely unrecognized after forty years of consecutive wins and a young, ambitious reporter uncovers a stunning secret—behind the small town values and string of impressive athletic victories hides a bizarre pre-game ritual: each player must rub the bulging tumor of their school janitor for good luck. As the janitor's health begins to fade, the town unites around the local body politic to push for the world's first ever tumor transplant in a crazed attempt to save their winning streak. The transplant fails, creating even more fevered desperation to win at least one more game. The town’s proposed solution is both as sickening as it is outrageous: players will consume the tumor during a special called Eucharist served up by the town minister, thereby demonstrating just how far a group will go to stay on top in the ‘dog eat dog’ world of high school athletics.
This book is in no way meant to make light of the terrible disease of cancer, which took my grandfather and many others I have loved. It's a metaphor for a different kind of illness.
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