Deadline (22 page)

“
You choose, darling,” she
said. “After all, I have a hunch our address is soon going to be
the same.”

They left the newsroom arm-in-arm,
hugging each other tightly.

Chapter 67

Daily Express Pressroom
12:30 AM

THE HUM of the Goss, high-speed
presses reverberated throughout the large pressroom at the rear of
the Daily Express Building.

Braden Young was always awestruck at
the sight of these monolithic monsters churning out thousands of
sheets of newsprint that comprised a metropolitan daily
newspaper.

The Goss Newsliner system at the Daily
Express spewed out 90,000 copies of the paper per hour.

It still sent chills down Young’s back
to witness the power of these huge presses.

He walked past huge rolls of newsprint
dotting the floor of the pressroom. He reached the foot of one of
the tall, tower like presses where workers, wearing sound earmuffs,
were collecting the papers and bundling them for
delivery.

“
Evening, Mr. Young.
Another one put to bed, eh?” Bob Nickelson, the press foreman
grinned as he spoke.

“
Right, you are, Bob. But
this is one is rather special. It’s been a very good day for the
Daily Express.”

Nickelson handed Young one of the
papers hot off the press.

The ink was still wet and stained his
fingers as he looked at the front page headlines:

OSAMA BIN LADEN TRACKED
DOWN

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TREVOR
TREVANIAN

_________________________________________________________

WOLFMAN’S REIGN OF TERROR
ENDS

By Katie Cannon

________________________________________

CITY COUNCILLORS ON THE
TAKE

By Donna-Marie Pierce

______________________________________________________

Young read over the stories on the
page. A smile of satisfaction spread over his tired and worn
face.

This is what it it’s all about. This
makes the pain and struggle all worthwhile.

Young felt proud of his reporters and
what they had accomplished today. Getting the news out is often a
thankless task, but the public has a right to know and to be
informed. That is the root of any democratic society.

We did our duty today and we did it
well, Young thought. Tomorrow is another day and we get to do it
all over again.

He tucked the newspaper under his left
arm and strolled outside. The night sky was clear with a thousand
stars twinkling and the moon shining brightly.

The city never sleeps. There are
always more stories.

But Braden Young also looked forward
to heading home and building a new life and relationship with his
daughter Megan.

He was convinced things were going to
turn out all right.

Author’s Note

This is my first novel and there are
many people to thank in its preparation. My thanks to those family
members and friends who read the early drafts and offered useful
comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript: Sherry
Anderson, Joan Anderson, Peter Anderson, Pat Chipps, Jeff Ingham,
Lawrence Otis and John Sloan. Any errors or omissions are entirely
the author’s.

About the Author

James A. Anderson is a
retired journalist and graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton,
Ontario. He lives in London, Ontario, Canada with his wife Sherry
and two Basenjis, Remba and Wakili. They have two grown children,
Mike and Amanda and four grandchildren, Katie, Trevor, Megan and
Leah.
Deadline
is
his first novel.