The Accidental Tourist
The weather
was cold, and the interior of the hall was chilly and bleak. Macon noticed Susan
gaping vacantly at the guide, who wasn’t making his spiel very exciting; so he leaned over and
whispered, “Imagine. George Washington sat in that very chair.”
“I’m not really into George
Washington, Uncle Macon.”
“Human beings can only go ‘into’
houses, cars, and coffins, Susan.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
They followed the crowd upstairs,
through other rooms, but Susan had plainly exhausted her supply of good humor. “If it
weren’t for what was decided in this building,” Macon told her, “you and I might very well be
living under a dictatorship.”
“We are anyhow,” she said.
“Pardon?”
“You really think that you and me
have any power?”
“You and I, honey.”
“It’s just free speech, that’s all
we’ve got. We can say whatever we like, then the government goes on and does exactly
what it pleases. You call that democracy? It’s like we’re on a ship,
headed someplace terrible, and somebody else is steering and the passengers can’t jump off.”
pg. 182
From The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. Copyrighted 1985.
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Last Modified: 13 October 2006 EST
