Freedom Road

"Freedom Road" by William Lashner, published by Thomas & Mercer. Chicago, 1968Oliver Cross took a commuter train to the revolution.It was the same train his father took to work every weekdaymorning and the occasional Saturday, the Chicago & NorthWestern from Kenosha to the Loop. His father boarded thetrain in Highland Park, the seats already filling with suited menbriskly turning the half-folded pages of the Tribune or the WallStreet Journal, first checking the prices of their stocks, andthen the Cubs score, and then maybe the national news if theycould stomach it. Oliver expected he would take that same traineach weekday morning and the occasional Saturday after hefinished law school at the University of Michigan. Maybe he’dcatch it from Evanston or Winnetka for a few years at the startof his career before he’d be able to afford the high-priced houseby the lake or country club in Highland Park that was hisultimate goal. Oliver’s father, a LaSalle Street lawyer, dealt indebentures; always the rebel, Oliver had his eye on the morerough-and-tumble world of mergers and acquisitions.But the commuter train wasn’t loaded with its normalcontingent this day. It was a Sunday, late in the summer, a fewweeks before Oliver would have to return to Ann Arbor for hissecond year of studying the law, and he rode the train with hisgreat pal Finnegan, heading into the city to see the freak show.“None of it matters,” said Finnegan, also a law student, thoughat Loyola, which meant a lesser job and a lesser future, whichgave Oliver a prickly sense of satisfaction. “They can huff andpuff all they want but Humphrey has the nomination.”“Unless Lyndon steals it back,” said Oliver. “I wouldn’t put itpast him.”“Johnson would definitely steal it if Kennedy were still around,the way he hated him. Too bad about that California thing,”said Finnegan, making a no-ice-cream-for-you face.“I’ll never get over it,” said Oliver.“Me neither,” said Finnegan. “Let’s get a dog before we go tothe park. I’m starving.” Book details: 354 pages, published 2019. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.