Busted Axle Road Chapter 40
| Busted Axle Road | |
|---|---|
| Chapter 40 of 44 | |
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| Time frame | January, 1988 |
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Location
- Spearfish Lake
- The Langenderfer-McMahon residence
- Spearfish Lake grade school
- The Spearfish Lake Record-Herald offices
- Spearfish Lake City offices
- The Defenders of Gaea offices in Los Angeles
- Blake and Jennifer's home in Malibu (about 20–25 miles northwest of Los Angeles, on the coast)
Characters
- Andy Bairnsfether, an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times newspaper, former Spearfish Lake Record-Herald reporter
- Freda (no last name given), the Spearfish Lake City Clerk
Summary
Kirsten has taken Susan to Camden and Mike has to go to Warsaw, so he leaves Tiffany with the responsibility of getting herself and Henry on the school bus. They get to the bus stop in plenty of time, however the bus has run early, so they miss it.
Tiffany tries to contact their neighbor Jackie for a ride, but she isn't at home, so Tiffany gets the dog sled out and harnesses a five-dog team to take her & Henry to school.
Linda and the school principal don't know what to do, so call Mike's office. Pat answers and runs across to take photos, and reassures Linda and the principal that the dogs will be all right staying out in the open.
Mike was taken aback when Pat told him about it in the afternoon, complete with 8x10 inch prints. On his way home Mike was able to see Tiffany driving the sled (with Henry in the basket) back home across the frozen lake.
This episode was also described from a different point of view in Chapter 31 of Absent Friend.
John and Heather come to Mike's office to talk about the mass mailing that they want to do to the entire 30,000 membership of Defenders of Gaea, to do it from a Washington DC mailing address, and on a specific date.
Mike is happy to sort it out as he's received the notice that Heather has dropped the lawsuit, which he's given to Chuck, who's dealing with the legal side.
Mike again takes advantage of the time zones and calls Andy in Los Angeles. He twists his arm to come to Michigan to interview Heather. The Times will break the Defenders story.
Freda is unhappy at having to do the city managers job in addition to her own, and is glad that Jack is handling all the sewer related items. They are both relieved when the notice comes in that the Critical Interest Area has been downgraded to a Special Study Area.
They realise they need to start getting the work organised for the sewer separation project when Jack gets notice from the Rural Development Agency giving them 90% funding up to $5 million.
Freda rings the Spearfish Lake Record-Herald with the good news.
Sally warns Mike that they still need his column, and Pat gets him to write a piece about the upcoming Winter Festival dog race between Mike and Mark.
In the Los Angeles offices of the Defenders of Gaea Dale and Harris are arguing over which one had leaked all the information to the Los Angeles Times, and are wondering who John Pacobel is when they are raided by the FBI.
Fred rings up Jennifer in Spearfish Lake furious that she's done an interview trashing the Defenders, not realising that his contract with Jennifer has expired and not knowing that she's signed on with a different career management organisation.
Jennifer tells Fred not to come around, that she will honour existing commitments, but that's all.
Blake is impressed by how she deals with Fred.
Also Mentioned
- Don Kutzley
- Charles "Chuck" Blackbarn - Spearfish Lake City Attorney
