Do you really think they’d put a liberal progressive wannabe like me in a government-controlled institution like Vanderbilt? It’s never going to happen, Mary Catherine.”
“But they might,” I mustered a weak reply.
“No, they won’t,” Maddy replied sharply. “What would I do down there anyway? The only jobs available for people like me are government jobs, and that’s so we can be brainwashed. You do your seven-year stint in a government job, and then you have to leave. That’s the way it is for everyone. Working for the government until the grave is over. Seven years and you’re out. After that, what company is going to hire me…a zone rat?”
“My daddy could help you find a job.”
“Your daddy helping me. I don’t think so. And even so….”
“Even so, what?”
“And, those who are picked never come back to the zone. They get their diplomas and travel papers, and then go to work someplace else in Ohio.”
I wanted to press the obvious, and wondered why it wasn’t obvious to him. Why would anyone come back to this place? There’s no future here. All of you need to cut and run. But I stayed nice. “But at least they’re working.”
“In factories, blue collar jobs, just like everywhere else in Ohio. That’s where they place people up here. Remember, Mary Catherine, revenge is hell, and in their view, we chose this. We chose to be poor socialists, and they’re just making sure we stay that way.”
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